Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past
by TheDeadGirlRisen
Summary: Training to be good at taijutsu. Training to wield a gunbai. Training to master water. Becoming friends with a Uchiha boy. Naruto had a lot of things to do if he ever wanted to be strong enough to protect his precious people. Luckily he had the help of legends to guide him on his path to make his own legend. Not all spirits are helpful though, some spirits seek to harm others.
1. Prologue

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **_TheDeadGirlRisen_

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Prologue Teaser: **Minato uses the Shiki Fujin to seal the Kyuubi into his newborn son and Kushina tries to save Minato.

**Author Notes: **This is a rewrite of Ghost boy, which is a story I never posted. I have 85 chapters planned… before Naruto even becomes a genin. Whether it actually ends up being that long… who knows.

**Original Word Count:** 341

**New Word Count: **2260

**Date Written: **2/10/19 - 2/11/19

**Date Posted: **2/11/19

* * *

_**Arc 0: **__The Introductory Chapter_

* * *

He looked at his son, placed on the altar and he winced at what he was about to do. He made peace with it though, because he had faith in Konoha, he believed that they would treat his son like the hero he was.

He looked at his lovely wife who was holding the Kyuubi down with her chains, he could see how pale she was. He had to finish this soon or she wouldn't be able to survive…

His blue eyes picked up on her making a seal at rapid speed, and as his hands formed the last hand signs he would ever make, he wondered what Kushina was trying to do.

The cold presence of the Shinigami surrounded him, chilling him to the bone and an instinctive fear clawed at him. He ignored it. He stared at the Kyuubi. His blue eyes filled with determination met the slitted red of the biju. He was slightly surprised to see the fear in those eyes. The Kyuubi was afraid to be sealed away again. He suppose he could understand that, he wouldn't want to be locked away either.

His hand finished the last seal and he started to seal the Kyuubi into his son. His first thought had been to rip the Kyuubi in half, but if what he suspected was true, his son would need the Kyuubi by his side to fight the masked man.

The seal was the Shiki Fujin, more commonly known as the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. It was normally used to seal something into himself to be taken into the Shinigami's Domain to fight for eternity.

But this was a deal with the Shinigami, he could change the terms of the deal so long as he was still offering his soul. So he was having the Shinigami seal the Kyuubi into his newborn son. With the Shinigami actually making the seal, he was confident that no human would be able to rip the Kyuubi from his son. Unlike his wife, his son would be able to protect himself, and the Kyuubi with the seal.

A little chibi version of himself was grinning and laughing at a chibi version of the Masked man who looked pissed. He smirked, he would be the one getting the last laugh. He had a feeling that the masked man wanted the Kyuubi for whatever reason, and by making the biju unattainable he was beating whatever game the masked man was playing.

He wasn't called a genius for nothing after all.

The last bit of the Kyuubi was being sealed into his son. His wife was weakening and the Kyuubi thrusted a claw towards his son. He and his wife threw themselves in front of the claw, preventing it from reaching his son. The last of the Kyuubi was sealed into the little baby, and he felt the timer on his soul ticking down. He glanced at his wife once more, she was pale and shaking, he was saddened by the thought that she would not survive.

Her soft violet eyes met his and she leaned forward and kissed him. Minato savored the kiss, for the brief moment it lasted. "We should say our last words to Naruto," He told her quietly.

Kushina nodded and started talking to their son, telling him how much she loved him, and that he should be a good boy, and eat his veggies. Then it came to his turn, he told his son how much he loved him, and that he should always take training seriously, and that he should find himself people he could trust completely, and who trusted him in return.

With the timer on his soul getting lower and lower, he smiled at his son as he used the last of his strength to tie a small portion of his and Kushina's chakra into the little baby.

"I love you, my little flash." he said and ruffled his son's hair.

With that Minato Namikaze's soul was claimed by the Shinigami.

* * *

Kushina was horrified when her husband told her of his plan to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto, the sacrifice being his soul. She wanted her son to have a parent in her life, but nothing she could say would convince her stubborn husband to let her to the summoning. He foolishly believed that she would be able to survive. Yet she knew that she would die. There was no surviving for her.

Her mind flashed through hundreds of scenarios in a few seconds before a clarity came across her and as she held the Kyuubi down she started writing a seal, completely brand new, there was no time to test it, but if this crazy idea of hers worked, than Minato would live and would be able to raise and protect the little one.

Her pace was hurried, but sure as she drew the seals. She finished the seal with the activation of it being set for as a kiss. Her excitement allowed the slowly shrinking Kyuubi to thrust a claw forward and she threw herself to protect her baby boy.

The claw and Kyuubi disappeared into Naruto and she nearly collapsed. She looked at her wonderful husband and her mind solid on her decision she leaned towards him and gave him a small kiss. The seal activated, and she could feel her soul being tied to Minato's. It was her plan that because the Shinigami was only supposed to take one soul, it would take her soul and allow her husband to live.

"We should say our last words to Naruto," Her husband said softly, his blue eyes filled with sorrow.

She gave a nod and started rabling to their son, she had so much she wanted to tell him. Finally though the emotions running through her caused her to go silent. With a glance Minato started speaking, telling him how much he loved him.

She felt her husband pull a bit of her chakra out and place it within the seal. "I love you, my little flash," Minato said ruffling their son's hair.

Kushina felt him slump, and she could feel her soul being pulled out of her body. "I love you Naruto."

With that Kushina Uzumaki's soul was claimed by the Shinigami.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was getting too old to be Hokage, he needed to find a successor soon, but no one really seemed up to the role at this time. The aged Hokage looked at the little toddler who was leaning against a tree at the orphanage by himself. He had promised himself, after the boy's parents had died to seal the Kyuubi into him, that he would do his best to protect the boy and uphold the fourth's wish.

His wish that the village would see Naruto as a hero.

Sarutobi in his grief over the loss of the fourth hadn't thought things through and told the village about Naruto's Jinchuriki status. He had told them that the fourth wanted them to see the boy as a hero. He had foolishly believed that they would respect the fourth's wish.

Instead they spat on the fourth's wish and hated the boy.

Perhaps if he had told them that Naruto was the fourth's son then Konoha would actually honour the fourth's wish. Yet, if he did do that then he would be putting the boy into great danger from Iwa. He was already risking enough from Kumo by letting him have his mother's last name.

He had never felt so ashamed of Konoha than whenever he heard yet another case of the bright little toddler being mistreated and scorned.

He had cried when he had gotten a report that the matron of the orphanage had hit the boy. Sarutobi had her publicly executed to make a point. Abusing the boy would not be tolerated. He could do nothing for the neglect, or the looks of hatred. If he killed everybody who glared at the little boy, well not much of Konoha would be left.

Sarutobi went over the the little toddler. He once more noted that as soon as he got within five feet of the boy, that the air seemed to be a couple degrees colder. It always seemed to be a bit colder around the boy, he didn't know why as Kushina had never been cold. If anything she had always seemed warm.

The boy gave him a bright smile and he smiled back. It was a shame that the people took the cold as him being the Kyuubi. He chatted with the boy, teaching him how to speak. He would have to assign someone to teach the boy how to write.

As more time passed and the boy got more and more fluent at speaking he was starting to get some strange reports of the boy seeming to talk to thin air. The people were afraid that Naruto was talking to the Kyuubi. When he asked the boy who he had been talking to Naruto had told him he had been talking to a person.

Obviously from the deprivation of having actual friends the boy was creating imaginary friends. It was worrying that Naruto's imaginary friends always seemed to be adults. But he knew that he was the only person Naruto had friendly contact with. His fellow orphans had been told to avoid the boy, and so none of them go near him.

People were still worried though, and so the council suggested that they have a Yamanaka check Naruto's mind. Reluctantly he agreed and Inochi agreed to go into Naruto's mind. A half later after he came out he said that the Kyuubi was sleeping in a cage.

With the council satisfied the issue was finally dropped. Sarutobi sighed and turned to his paperwork. He never could understand how people could hate such a sweet boy. If only they could see past his status of a Jinchuuriki and see him for the child he was.

* * *

Many people hated him, for what he didn't know. He just knew that people called him a demon, a monster. These names used to affect him, used to make him cry, but he heard them so often that now he was able to ignore them.

There were some people though that were different from the rest. These people were paler than normal people, and were a bit see through. He knew that they were spirits, ghosts of people who have died. When he realized that people hated him for talking to the spirits he tried to hide it.

But with no one else willing to talk to him, the few spirits who were strong enough to say things were his only companions. Most of the spirits he could see were pale and generally didn't say much. The stronger ones, like the one the hung around Hokage-jiji was more visible and could speak fluently, though he didn't often say much. That spirit he could occasionally see watching him every few months.

Soon he would be starting the mixed academy, and he was both scared and excited for it. "Hello Naruto-kun."

"Jiji!" Naruto said happily giving the man a hug. He ignored the spirit standing behind the Hokage.

"I have a bit of an early birthday present for you since you are about to start the academy."

"Really?!" Naruto asked excited.

"Yes," The old man who wore read and white robes and has a red and white hat dug into his pocket and held up a key.

Naruto's eyes went wide, "Is that…?"

"Yes, your very own apartment," The old man said kindly.

"Thank you!" Naruto said hugging the Hokage once again.

"It's no problem Naruto, let's walk I can show you where it is." The Hokage grinned. The two living and one ghost walked down the street.

"So Naruto have you thought about our last conversation?"

Naruto nodded, "Un-huh. I want to become a Hokage like you!"

The Hokage grinned kindly at him, "And why do you want to be a Hokage?"

Naruto gave a large grin, "Because that way everyone will respect me they won't be mean to me anymore."

The Hokage frowned at him, "Now Naruto that's not a very good reason for wanting to be Hokage."

Naruto frowned and looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"A Hokage is someone who protects the village who will sacrifice their life for the village, they are the pillar of support needed for the village."

Naruto paused, "Oh…"

The Hokage smiled at him, "You can still become Hokage but you must remember that to be hokage means more than just being strong you have to have the will of fire and protect the village at all costs."

Naruto grinned, "I see thanks Old man!"

A tick mark formed on his head, "I'm not that old!" He complained good naturedly.

"Yes, you are." Two voices echoed as one as the ghost said the exact same thing as Naruto.

The Hokage smiled affectionately and ruffled Naruto's short hair. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. The duo arrived at a small decrepit building, "I'm sorry I couldn't get you a nicer place Naruto, but you have this building to yourself mostly the only other person who lives here is your landlord."

"It's fine! Beats being in the orphanage!" Naruto said happily.

The Hokage gave him a sad smile. "Well I'll see you on your first day."

Naruto beamed at the old man. "Alright!"

He watched as the old man and the ghost left. One day he would be strong, just like his Jiji.

* * *

**End Notes: **I hope you enjoyed the Prologue. I have no idea how often this will be updated, but my goal is to have this story actually show the character growth. If you feel a scene is too rushed, or you have a suggestion please let me know. I hope that you guys enjoy reading this story, as much as I know I will enjoy writing it. Have a good day everyone.


	2. Chapter One

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Chapter One Teaser: **The old man gives a speech to welcome the new students to the academy. Naruto makes his first friend, and hey it looks like there is going to be a field trip.

**Author Notes: **So you might notice how low the original word count is compared to the new one, and that is because the original story has no details. It's pretty much all plot with none of the character development.

**Original Word Count:** 249

**New Word Count: **1964

**Date Written: **2/11/19 - 2/12/19

**Date Posted: **2/13/19

* * *

_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part One**

* * *

Naruto smiled as he walked down the streets with a hop in his step, it was the first day of the academy he was so excited! He had set out an hour earlier than he needed, because he had to find his way to the academy. And even though he had a map with the path drawn on, well if he messed up than he wanted to make sure he still arrived on time. When he finally arrived at the building and than he became nervous, what if the teachers didn't like him? What if the student's were as mean as the ones at the Orphanage had been?

He saw the Hokage and the ghost that always followed him standing in a room inside the academy through a window. Just seeing the Hokage made him feel more safe, made him feel protected. Was that what his jiji meant? When he was talking about being the pillar of the village?

He entered the Academy and found his way to the room. He smiled at the Hokage who smiled back. He hesitantly took a seat closer to the back, he didn't want to be at the front where everybody would notice him. So since people were less likely to notice him sitting in the back that was where he choose to sit.

Slowly people entered and took seats. Another ten minutes passed by with students coming in, one after another. The room was quickly filling up and everyone was crammed together. A boy and a girl both sat at the same table as him. The two were chatting, as if familiar with each other. They ignored him when he tried to say hello, so he just sat quietly as he watched more students come in.

The Hokage finally stood up and silence fell over the students. "Welcome everyone. Today is the first day of your first year at the academy and I would like to say that I am happy that the future of Konoha will soon be in your hands. Alas before that future can happen you have to study and learn. Most of you will end up going to the Civilian Academy after the three years of the merged academy, and some of you will carry on to the Ninja Academy. No matter which path you take though, I know that each and every single one of you will end up doing great things in your lives," He said smiling at all of them. "May the Will of Fire guide you wherever your path leads you."

With one last look at them he walked out of the room. Two instructors walked in, a male and a woman. "Hello everyone, we will be your instructors for your three years of the mixed academy. My name is Akumajo," The woman spoke, her black hair was tied up in a high ponytail and she had on a grey kimono.

Students started whispering to themselves at her name. One kid had pointed at her and was elbowing a boy next to him and whispering something.

The woman glared at the kid first before her piercing gaze looked over all of them, "I can be nice, but if you kids insist on poking fun at my name I will show you that I can be every bit of the evil witch that my name means."

As one the class shuddered.

The guy next to her placed a hand on her shoulder. She finally stopped glaring at them. The guy cleared his throat, "My name is Hinoka."

The guy had short brown hair and gently brown eyes, he wore a button up green shirt and black pants. "Now, we are going to call roll and when we call your name please stand up tell us one thing about yourself."

"Aburame, Shino," Was the first name called.

A boy wearing sunglasses and a coat stood up, "I like bugs." He stated flatly before sitting back down.

"Akimichi, Choji."

A bigger boy stood up. "I like chips."

"Ankoku, Rythian."

A boy wearing all black stood up, "I like my chilling with my friends."

Naruto started to not pay attention, since his name would be further in the list. Four minutes later and they were starting to get closer to the section where his name would be called. He did learn that the boy and girl next to him were called Dankan Jonzu and Kim Kimu.

"Saimon, Kanro."

A boy the size of Choji with ginger hair stood up, "I like dogs."

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

A boy a couple rows in front of him stood up, "I like my nii-san."

"Uzumaki, Naruto." Akumajo said her voice now frosty unlike the neutral it had been on all other names.

Naruto stood up and said, "I like ramen."

More names were called after his. Finally they ended the roll call. "Alright, if you want to be a ninja please raise your hand."

Hands shot up into the air. Hinoka walked up one alley and down the other counting hands.

"Out of the 62 students we have, 56 of your currently say you want to be ninja. I can guarantee you that by the end of the three years only about 30 of you will want to be ninja, and by the time you graduate, only about 15 of you will end up passing the final test."

Students muttered to each other at that. "Now since today is the first day of the academy we are just going to have a bit of fun introducing ourselves to each other. So feel free to mingle around the room and chat with people. We will also be coming around so feel free to talk to us." Hinoka told them.

The student's needed no further prompting as they either turned to the person they were sitting next to or some of them got up and moved to other people. Naruto got up as well, Kim and Dankan just continued chatting with each other.

He noted that the boy in black from earlier was sitting alone, his other two tablemates having to up to move. He walked over to the guy, "Hey my name is Naruto Uzumaki!" He said as he sat next to the kid.

"Rythian Ankoku, nice to meet you."

The two chatted for a little bit. Eventually they split to go talk to other people. He noticed Rythian head over to Kim and Dankan. He himself headed over to where he noticed a pink haired girl, he was pretty sure was named Sakura, was close to crying. Another girl stood above her.

Before he got there though a blonde haired girl said something to the one who was standing above Sakura and than she sat next to her. The girl huffed and walked off. Naruto made his way over to the boy who had said he liked dogs, he was sitting next to another boy who had two red marks on his cheeks.

The two of them were talking about dogs actually. He sat next to them, "Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Kiba Inuzuka," The boy with the marks said thrusting his hand forward for them to shake.

"I'm Kanro Saimon," The other boy said with a grin, "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet ya' to!" Naruto replied.

The three of them chatted for awhile, mostly about dogs, before lunch was called. They all went to lunch where there were big round tables they could sit at with eight chairs each. He stood at the end of the line and soon more classes were coming and lining up behind them. Naruto got his food he looked at the tables and saw that the people he had been chatting with earlier were sitting at tables that were already full.

Other tables were had some other classmates and so he sat down next to a girl who had bright green eyes and wore a shirt with a green squid on it, "Hello, my name is Naruto, what's yours?" he asked her.

She looked up, "I'm Ridia." She said before continuing to eat her food.

All attempts at further conversation were met with a stare that conveyed she really didn't want to talk. Lunch was finally over and they went to recess. The kids played on the playset that was there. Naruto was even able to play tag with them. The kids at the orphanage had never let him join in.

Finally they went back to the classroom. "Alright everyone, please take your seats. I will be calling your names again, and I want you to tell me something about two other students and their names."

The rest of the afternoon passed with them going through the roll call and having to name two other students and something about them. Naruto when his name was eventually called said, "Rythian's favorite color is purple, and Kiba likes taijutsu which his clan has already started teaching him."

"Very good Uzumaki." The teacher praised him, just like he had praised everyone else before he moved on.

Finally the day was drawing to a close. "Tomorrow we will begin our lessons." Akumajo told them. With that the class was dismissed.

They rushed outside with the other classes and Naruto watched as his fellow classmates were picked up by their parents. He couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness that no one would be their to pick him up.

A hand landed on his shoulder and startled he turned to see the Hokage smiling at him, "I think completing your first day of the Academy deserves some ramen, what about you?" The old man asked.

Naruto beamed as he nodded. The hokage gave him a knowing look as he grabbed his hand and the two walked to Ichiraku's ramen. It was at this time that the Hokage told him that he will have to memorize the path from his apartment to the academy, because he wouldn't be able to guide him everyday. The Hokage after they finished the ramen walked him back to his apartment.

The next few week's fell into a rhythm he would go to the academy, and would pay attention to whatever they were learning about that day. The teachers taught different things, like how to read more complex words, and how to write. They also talked about the history of Konoha which was really fascinating. And they also taught them about Math and Science. Naruto loved learning everything they taught, he knew that if he was able to learn these things than he would be stronger for it.

They also had a Pe class everyday, and after warm ups the Pe teacher who was only known as Sensei started teaching them a basic taijutsu stance. The teacher was super strict and didn't seem to like any of them.

Still Naruto was treated just like all the other kids, and he loved it. The only downside is that the kids were starting to give him the same looks as the ones at the orphanage. One day in the middle of the third week his friend, Rythian, told him, "I'm sorry Naruto, but… my parents they said I'm not allowed to be friends with you. I don't know why they wouldn't say why. You seem like a chill guy, but…" He gave Naruto a shrug and a helpless look.

Naruto just sighed, "It's fine, I understand."

His heart still sunk in his chest as he watched his friend turn and walk away. Even though he understood that people didn't like him, he wished he knew why. A couple weeks later and Akumajo gave an announcement that excited many of the students. There was a field trip coming up in a week, but to go they would need their parents or guardian signature.

* * *

**End Notes: **So some of you may notice that those OC's sound familiar. They are based on a youtube group I watch. They won't really be important to the story other than having some other characters for Naruto and the other rookies to interact with instead of just each other. I will say now that they will become their own teams eventually and show what normal ninjas are like compared to clan ninjas. And then those ninjas compared to Team 7. I hope you all enjoyed!


	3. Chapter Two

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Chapter Two Teaser: **Naruto talks with a familiar ghost, who occasionally gives him advice. He still has yet to figure out the name of the spirit though.

**Author Notes: **So, this chapter was not in the original story, but I felt that it would help the character development. Chapter took me awhile to write because I got distracted by the 12k One-shot I wrote. Also I am adding age and Month so that it is easier to keep track of the small time skips and have a general idea of the date. If you notice an inconsistency with the timeline, please let me know.

**Naruto age and Month: **5 years old, near the end of August

**Original Word Count:** 0

**New Word Count: **2102

**Date Written: **2/13/19 - 2/15/19

**Date Posted: **2/15/19

* * *

_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part Two**

* * *

Naruto collapsed on his bed once he had gotten back to his apartment. He wanted to go on the field trip, but to do that he needed his guardians signature. Unfortunately he didn't really know who his guardian was.

If he had still been at the Orphanage, than he knew that the matron would be who he would have to ask. But as he wasn't and he lived alone than he didn't know.

He looked over when he saw the ghost who was almost always following after the hokage come in. "Hello Ghost-sama" He greeted.

The ghost gazed at him his red eyes piercing. Naruto shuddered slightly, the ghost always seemed as if it was judging him. Naruto wished he knew the ghosts name, but it told him that he should figure it out himself. The only clue the ghost gave was "You have seen my face, it shouldn't be hard to pair my name with my face."

He had said it in a deadpan tone. Naruto scowled at the memory a bit, the ghost was always telling him to think for himself.

The ghost was still observing him with those red eyes. With those weird marks on his face it made him look scary. The way the man acted didn't really help either. The ghost frowned at him, "Is something troubling you?" The ghost finally asked.

"Besides for being reminded that I still haven't figured out your name?" He asked with a bit of a glower. Well Naruto would call it a glower, the ghost if asked would have told you it was a pout.

The ghost gave him a scolding look, "Watch your attitude."

Naruto shrinked into himself at that look and muttered, "Yes Ghost-sama."

The ghost gave a nod.

Naruto shivered, Ghost was scary… he was always telling Naruto to be polite and whatnot.

He didn't really see the point of the honorifics though. He didn't want to push his luck though, because if he did than Ghost would leave and he wouldn't have anyone to talk to. Even though the ghost could be pretty harsh, he wasn't mean like the villagers.

"You have not answered my question." The ghost pointed out looking down at the young boy.

"I was thinking about the field trip coming up." Naruto paused and the ghost didn't say anything so he huffed and continued explaining, "I was wondering if I would be able to go."

The ghost raised one eyebrow, "Why wouldn't you be able to go?"

"Because I don't know who my guardian is, and I need my guardian's signature." Naruto explained.

The ghost gave him the look. The look in which he thought Naruto was being stupid, and that the answer should be easy to find. Naruto crossed his arms defensively.

The white haired man continued to stare at him, "Who looks after you?"

Naruto frowned, his first answer would be nobody, but he knew that from previous experiences that his first answer was almost always wrong.

He scrunched his nose in distaste as he tried to think about who would be the person to look after him.

The ghost sighed as he watched him. Naruto could pretty much hear the man think of him as stupid. A moment later he hesitantly asked, "Is Jiji my guardian?"

The ghost nodded. "That shouldn't have taken you so long to figure out, you need to analyse things."

Naruto frowned, that wasn't the first time the ghost told him he needed to 'analyse' things and to increase his 'perception'. He scowled, read: pouted, at the ghost and finally decided to ask how he was supposed to do that, usually he just ignored it. But he wanted to know what the man was talking about.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, relatively politely.

The ghost's lip twitched up in the world's smallest smirk. "I mean that you need to take notice of what goes on around you. Listen to people's words, pay attention to their actions. Not just people though, you need to focus on your surroundings, train yourself to notice the small things and you will be able to notice things others miss. Learn how people work and you will be able to figure out what to say to get what you want."

Naruto blinked, that was the most the ghost had ever said in one chunk. "And just how am I supposed to do that?"

"With your senses. Watch and listen. Even smell and touch can help you analyse things."

"You say listen and watch, but don't people already do that?" he asked confused.

"There is a difference between just seeing things, and watching things. There is a difference between hearing things, and actually listening to what you hear."

Naruto tried to think about this, after a few minutes he gave up, "I don't understand."

The ghost huffed. "Follow me."

With a sharp turn the ghost left. Naruto rushed after the ghost. It led him to a nearby park. He watched as Ghost jumped up into a tree. "How am I supposed to get up there?" he muttered.

"Climb."

He scowled at the ghost who just stared down at him unimpressed. He walked to the tree and started climbing up up using his hand and feet. He finally made it up to the branch the ghost was on.

"Watch." The ghost said nodding towards the park.

Naruto looked at the park. He saw children playing together, laughing and all that. He saw parents chatting with each other as they watched their children. A couple minutes passed.

"Which kid is being bullied?" Ghost asked out of the blue.

"Huh?"

The ghost gave him a small glare.

Naruto huffed and looked at all the kids, another couple minutes passed. "I don't know." He said.

"Watch the girl with the blue dress." The ghost directed.

He looked and found the girl wearing a blue dress. She seemed to be playing a game with the other children from what he could see. Naruto was pretty sure it was tag. She was going towards other people, and they would run away from her.

"I don't see how she's being bullied."

With a huff the ghost asked, "What do you see?"

"I see her playing with the other children." He answered.

"Watch her face."

He scowled, but did as the ghost said. At least the ghost was trying to teach him. He watched the girls face, and he noticed that she wasn't smiling. As she turned towards a new person he could see the desperation in her eyes.

"There… running from her?"

"Correct."

"Which kid has just recently lost someone close to them?"

He looked around, trying to figure out which kid the ghost could be talking about, his first guess would be the kid who was hanging out with a couple others, he seemed a bit sad. But as he watched he saw one of the boys friends say something and the boy laugh. Continuing to look around he noticed a kid smiling happily, and he was about to dismiss the older girl when he saw her glance away from her friends. He looked to where she was and saw an empty spot.

Frowning he continued watching her and she was constantly glancing at that empty spot, as if expecting someone to be there. "Is it the girl with her hair in a high ponytail?"

The ghost nodded, "Good job. When you pay attention to people's actions you are able to notice things about them. The same applies to hearing, people talk in certain ways. They may phrase something different from the person next to them. You can tell from the way people speak what they are likely to do, or how they are feeling."

"I… think I'm starting to get it." Naruto said as he continued to watch the kids. The ghost gave him a small smile.

They stayed like that for another hour, with the ghost asking him different things to notice. Some he could find, other's he needed a few more clues. But as the hour passed Naruto got better and quicker at finding the person the ghost was talking about.

"It is starting to get late, you wanted to ask Sarutobi-kun about the field trip though correct?"

Naruto nodded.

"I am returning to the tower so you can walk with me." The ghost commanded and jumped down.

Naruto quickly shimmied his way down the tree. Wincing a bit as the bark scratched at his skin. He made his way over to ghost, and as they walked to the tower he looked around, trying to notice things. He was pretty sure he noticed a few things he wouldn't have noticed before.

As he got closer to the Hokage tower Naruto looked up at the Hokage tower. He blinked, as for the first time he paid attention to the faces on the monument. The ghost's words came back to his mind "You have seen my face, it shouldn't be hard to pair my name with my face."

He looked at the Second Hokage's face, and than at the ghost he was walking next to. He facepalmed and muttered, "I feel so stupid."

The ghost… the second hokage gave him an amused smirk. "Keep practicing watching, and noticing things." The ghost told him as they walked into the Hokage tower. The secretary lady told him to wait a few minutes for the Hokage.

The Nidaime gave a nod as a goodbye as he walked through the door. About five minutes passed and he looked around, trying to notice stuff, but he couldn't really see anything. The Secretary finally told him he could go in.

"Ah Naruto-kun what brings you here?" The Hokage asked.

"I was wondering if I could have you sign my permission slip to go on the field trip." Naruto stated and pulled the folded paper out of his pocket.

He watched as the hokage took the folded paper and looked over it. "And here I though you would relieve me from paperwork, not bring me more." The hokage said with a chuckle.

Naruto gave an apologetic smile. His jiji signed the paper, "Here you go."

"Thanks jiji!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully as he grabbed the paper.

"No problem, just make sure you follow all directions your given, and stay with your classmates, if you get lost it could take some time for us to find you, okay?"

"Alright."

"Good, now it's getting late, you should return home. Can you make it back yourself?" The Hokage asked.

Naruto thought back to the path he had walked with the Nidaime. He grinned, "Yeah!"

"Good, I will see you some other time." The Hokage said with a chuckle.

"Bye jiji!" Naruto replied and left as the sun started to set.

He walked down the streets back towards his apartment, which they had passed on the way to the tower from the park. Seeing his apartment he went to his room and started cooking a cup of noodles.

As the last of the sun set he ate his dinner and went to bed happy.

The next day he went to school and turned in his permission slip. He sat in his normal seat that was close to the back, next to Kanro Saimon, and Kanro's best friend a boy named Ruisu Burindori.

Naruto continued to practice trying to notice things, to analyse things, but it was a lot harder without the Nidaime to prod him along. Also he needed to actually learn the Nidaime's name. Since being called the Second was still a title and not an actual name. The next month seemed to crawl by as he watched the students, learning things about them. Like what food they liked, or what they were good at in class, and what they were bad at.

He found that he could use this to his advantage, like Sasuke Uchiha would be willing to point out his mistakes in taijutsu for a bowl of the little round tomatoes. Shikamaru would help study if he took decent notes for the boy while he napped.

His tablemates, Kanro Saimon, and Ruisu Burindori would help him with the assignment if he gave them a new card for the card game they liked to play. He had a deck himself, but he didn't really get the rules, so he mostly found the cards and gave them to the two boys.

Tomorrow though was the day of the field trip, and Naruto was struggling to fall asleep because he was so excited. Eventually though he managed to fall asleep, and he dreamed of shinobi fighting.

* * *

**End Note: **And somehow Tobirama was acting a bit like Sherlock with the whole seeing thing. Still even a Uchiha wouldn't be as perceptive as Sherlock. Hmm now that's and Idea a Sherlock Uchiha…

**Bonus: **Also as a special late valentines treat. I will be posting two things today, one is this chapter and the other is a one-shot called Where I belong. I would have posted it yesterday, but it took a bit too long to finish. Have a good day!


	4. Chapter Three

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Chapter Three Teaser: **It's time for the field trip and it seems like the class isn't the only one there to listen to the story.

**Author Notes: **I finally wrote this chapter. Almost 1,000 words longer than the original bit, Yay!

**Naruto age and Month: **5 years old, near the end of September

**Original Word Count:** 865

**New Word Count: **1862

**Date Written: **7/6 - 7/7/19

**Date Posted: **7/7/19

* * *

_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part Three**

* * *

The next morning he was extremely tired as he woke up, having not been able to fall asleep due to his excitement having made him lose quite a bit of sleep. He made his way to the academy after throwing on some clothes and skipping breakfast. A group of about twenty other students were standing there looking either sleepy or excited.

A group of about ten ninja's came, "Alright, two students to one of our helpers. They will be carrying you, and moving at high speeds in order to get us to our destination faster," One of the teachers said.

So he was paired with the Inuzuka boy and they had a boring looking ninja. "Alright, is everyone ready?" Hinoka called out.

The various ninja's gave positive answers, "Let us head out then."

The boring looking ninja grabbed had them grab onto his arm and with his other he made a hand seal and they moved at a rapid pace. This was repeated several times resulting in the two boys getting dizzy and disorientated.

The Inuzuka boy, Kiba if he remembered correctly ended up throwing up his breakfast after the last jump. The boring looking ninja, who when Naruto had asked found his name was Taikutsuna, grimaced. After Kiba managed to stop and wipe his mouth he flushed embarrassed and apoligzed. Taikutsuna waved it off with a, "You're not the only one who threw up, I should have expected it with your enhanced senses," Taikutsuna shook his head and grumbled, "Next year we really should have buckets at the ready, well at least since it is in the forest it doesn't have to be cleaned up."

With that Taikutsuna started to lead him and Kiba away herding them towards the other students. They grouped up and they started walking, "Not to much further now," Akumajo stated.

Then the trees cleared out and before them was a beautiful sight. A giant waterfall falling down between two statues. The two statues were facing each other and were making a seal of confrontation. "Before you is the Valley of the End, it was created when Hashirama Senju fought off against the traitor Madara Uchiha. Make sure you stay on this side of the river class, for the other side is the Land of Rice Fields."

The students were captivated.

"As you can see the statue on our side is Hashirama Senju, the founder of Konoha."

Naruto and the rest of the class looked at the statue, Naruto though was the only one who saw the spirit that jumped on top of the head, one that looked eerily similar to the statue. "On the other side is Madara Uchiha, the traitor of Konoha."

Like Tobirama, these two ghosts seemed solid. He noticed the spirts jump down and walk side by side on top of the water towards the group. "Does anybody have any questions before we begin the history lesson?"

Madara crossed his arms, and with a roll of his eyes he questioned, "You think you will get the story right this year?"

Of course neither Hinoka, nor Akumajo heard him.

"This happened back after the foundation of Konoha, Hashirama Senju, the leader of the Senju clan, had become the Shodai Hokage. The leader of the Uchiha clan though felt as if it should have been him. He decided to try and forcefully take the village. With this in mind he tried to get his clan to help him revolt against Konoha. The Uchiha clan cast him out, declaring him a warmonger."

Naruto listened, but he noticed that as the teachers continued to set the scene the two ghosts seemed to be shaking their heads. It would seem that the information they were given was incorrect.

"With no one willing to heed his call Madara left the village. Yet this was not the last of the traitor. He soon came back to destroy Konoha, and he came with help. The Nine-tailed demon fox was under his control. Or valiant Shodai went to face off against Madara and they met as the sun was setting here in this spot."

Naruto could swear he felt people glaring at him during that paragraph, but when he looked around he didn't see anyone glaring.

Madara sighed and gave a long suffering glance at Hashirama, "Why do you insist we do this every few years?"

Hashirama beamed at the spiky haired man, "Because it's fun to see the children's reactions to it. Even if a few parts are slightly inaccurate, it is still amusing to listen to. The story ends up changing with every retelling we listen to."

"...the two of them made the seal of confrontation before they started their duel," Hinoka said and Naruto realized he had missed some of the set up.

The shodai paused, "Madara, was it just me or were those ninja's glaring at the blonde boy?"

"Hn," Madara grunted.

"It seemed to happen when the teacher mentioned the Kyuubi…" Hashirama continued to muse as he gazed at Naruto, who made sure to act as if he couldn't see them. He didn't want the other students to notice him staring at 'thin air'.

He still noticed Madara turn to look at him through one eye, the other covered by a long strand of hair. "Hn," The Uchiha once more grunted. It reminded Naruto of Sasuke. Maybe it was a Uchiha thing to grunt like that.

"They clashed as Hashirama used his bloodline, the mokuton in order to subdue the beast…" Hinoka continued speaking.

It was a bit hard for Naruto to pay attention to them as Madara and Hashirama continued to talk, and comment on the retelling. "Your Mokuton is not a bloodline, it is a mutation," Madara grumbled.

Hashirama's head bowed down and dark lines appeared over his bowed head like a cloud. Madara sighed, "Stop being depressed and go torment the kids or something, baka."

The Shodai just beamed and moved to start passing through students, causing said students to shiver.

Unaware of any of this Hinoka continued on as if uninterrupted, "With the Kyuubi taken care of Hashirama could focus on stopping Madara. So the two legends clashed, weapons against weapons. Jutsu's versus jutsus. While the specifics are not known, we can take a reasonable guess as to what they used. Madara used fire jutsu's. Of course our Shodai used his Mokuton," The teacher said.

"Didn't I write down more of the specifics of the fight when I wrote the report?" Hashirama thought out loud.

"You wrote a report?" Madara repeated crossing his arms and staring at Hashirama.

"Well, yes I did want an accurate retelling for history, though it seems that either something happened to the report, or perhaps it was deemed classified for whatever reason," Hashirama mused.

"... and so with both of them running out of chakra the two clashed one final time and the resulting blow killed Madara."

"As if something like that actually killed me," Madara said with a scoff.

"Alright class, it's lunch time, and then we have a genjutsu user coming. She will place all of you under a genjutsu so you can view a reconstruction of the fight. Lunch will last one hour, so take your time to relax and have a recess."

This said the students got up and separated into groups, pulling out lunches and starting to eat. Naruto sighed and ignored his rumbling stomach, today he wasn't able to eat anything except a cup of noodles for dinner, he was running low on his monthly funds and so was trying to ration out his food.

Still he did stand up and move to go sit by himself. Even if he some of the students were okay with trading things with him, they weren't friends and they told him he wasn't allowed to sit with them. Which meant he was alone, with no one to talk to, no one to eat with. No one to play with.

He wiped away a tear before it could fall, one day he would have a friend. Believe it! He ignored the doubt that clawed at him. With nothing better to do he glanced to see the spirts and saw Hashirama over by the teachers and was frowning at something.

Madara was… Naruto blinked and slowly looked around wondering where the other spirit had disappeared. Then as Naruto looked over to Sasuke he saw the Uchiha standing over the other boy.

"Madara!" Hashirama called out.

The Uchiha glanced up and walked over to Hashirama, who was currently walking to him.

"I was listening in to the teachers, some of them were complaining about him being here," Hashirama started gesturing to Naruto who pretended he couldn't see them, though he was listening. "They called him a demon, and a monster," The Shodai's voice seemed to be disgusted as he said that. "How could they call him that?"

Madara looked over, "The children were speaking of him as well, it seems he is the dead last in his class. They call him a clanless loser."

Hashirama seemed surprised by this, "Clanless? But I heard his name, Naruto Uzumaki, even if the Uzumaki clan had been greatly reduced that doesn't mean he is clanless."

Naruto couldn't help but shift in surprise at that, even as Madara's eye narrowed and he grunted, "Hn."

He bit his lip, he wanted to ask more about the Uzumaki's, he had a clan? It sounded too good to be true. He wasn't going to ask though, people already thought of him as a freak, or a demon, whenever they witnessed him talking to 'thin air'.

So he kept quiet. He kept pretending to not see them. Pretending he couldn't hear them. Pretending that he was _normal_.

"Perhaps we should visit Konoha, it has been awhile," Hashirama suggested.

Naruto blinked at this. From what he had learned so far spirts were usually bound to a certain place or person. Tobirama was bound to Konoha. He sometimes saw flickering spirts following after certain people. But if these two spirts could go between here and Konoha, and who knows where else… then maybe that meant they were bound to each other.

He wasn't sure though as he wasn't an expert on the subject of spirts, though he was probably more knowledgeable than anyone else alive.

Madara shrugged in response to Hashirama. Naruto watched as the children finished up their lunches and started playing tag. With nothing better to do he decided to practice the academy taijutsu the PE teacher had started teaching them.

The hour ended and an older teenager with black hair and red eyes walked up, she gave a nervous smile, "Hello class, My name is Kurenai, I was hired to help give you a visual of the fight between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Please don't try to fight this."

With that she formed hand seals and Naruto and the rest of the class witnessed the fight as Hinoka had described it. The fight was amazing to watch. Even if it was inaccurate. Still the genjutsu ended and Naruto found himself quite tired.

He yawned and looked around, noticing that other members of the class seemed to be coming out of their daze. The red eyed woman seemed to have already left. Naruto gave another yawn and his eyes fluttered to a close. He really was tired, he was so tired he could almost imagine that feathers were falling down as he fell asleep.

* * *

**End Note: **Things are moving along, next time find out what happens when Naruto wakes up. Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter Four

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By:** _TheDeadGirlRisen_

**Beta'ed by****:** _N/A_

* * *

**Chapter Four Teaser:** And so Naruto wakes up all alone. In the dark.

**Author Notes:** I had quite a bit of fun rewriting this chapter. By the end of the chapter 2,500 words would have passed in the original. Rewritten will have hit over 10k. I am pretty pleased.

**Naruto age and Month:** 5 years old, September 25th

**Original Word Count:** 705

**New Word Count:** 1953

**Date Written:** 7/8/19

**Date Posted:** 7/9/19

* * *

**Arc 1:** The First Year of the Academy

**Part Four**

* * *

When he woke up the first thing he realized was that he was freezing. With a shiver he opened his eyes. Darkness greeted him and he was barely able to see his surroundings from the glow of the moon. It happened to be in one of it's crescent phases. What had looked bright and cheerful in the daylight now took a creepy quality as he heard strange chirping noises.

The gentle breeze was strong enough to make branches sway back and forth making the forest look alive, like the trees would come out and grab him at any moment. He scooted away from the tree he had been leaning against. Shadows darted all around seeming to dash towards him before leaping away.

The noise died down and it became eerily silent. There was no noise.

No wind.

Even the shadows and the trees had gone still. Time seemed to be frozen.

It was just him, all alone, by himself.

He gulped and the noise sounded way to loud in the sudden silence. Then all of the sudden the chirping noise started up again and more joined in, filling the forest with an otherworldly sounding symphony.

Given his ability to see ghosts this was a conclusion he really didn't want to draw and he whimpered. He was lost, and he didn't know what to do, or where to go. His eyes strained to see into the dark as a small gust of wind blew a cloud over the sky covering the moon.

He nearly had a heart attack when he heard someone speak up, "Hn, it seems as though the boy has woken up."

The sudden voice had shocked him into silence, for which he was glad because he probably would have screamed. He hadn't expected the two ghosts to still be around. He shivered remembering when he last been alone on a dark night. He blocked the memories, he didn't want to remember that night. Not now. Not ever.

"Really? That's good! I can't believe that those ninja just left him behind!" Hashirama growled out through clenched teeth, "Of all the irresponsible idiotic things I have seen since I died!"

Madara sighed, "Yes so you have said a thousand times by now."

Naruto hesitated, these ghosts knew the way to Konoha, and they seemed stable enough, but he still didn't want to reveal that he could talk to spirits. Though there was no one around at least. He tried to look at the ghosts, but it was difficult to see them. Commonly people believe that ghosts seemed to glow or admit a sort of light. But this was untrue.

Ghosts were see through, and had colors, though the colors were dull and hard to make out most of time. When the night was near a pitch black like it was tonight, ghosts were almost impossible to make out. It was creepy, they could pop out of nowhere. Naruto once more shivered and repressed the memories.

These spirits knew the way to Konoha though, and no one was around. So it was okay to speak to them. Hashirama was still ranting about the unfairness of them and how he wished he could speak to them so he could give them a piece of his mind.

"Could you please point me in the direction of Konoha?" Naruto asked.

Hashirama didn't even pause in his rant as he pointed off in a certain direction. Madara however narrowed his visible eye. Naruto gave a cheeky little grin and a wave he turned and walked in the direction he had been given.

He had only been walking for a couple more seconds when Hashirama appeared next to him, "You can see us?" He asked with a grin.

Naruto gave a nod. "Yeah," He also answered out loud not knowing if the spirits could see better in the dark or not.

"Cool! Wait, if you can see us, and hear us, why didn't you mention it earlier when Madara and I were talking near you?" Hashirama asked.

Naruto shifted, recalling various civilians calling him a freak. The clouds shifted away from the moon making it easier to see the spirits.

He then glanced over to see Madara giving Hashirama a blank stare. As if he couldn't believe that Hashirama would ask that. Hashirama was ignoring it and gazing at Naruto expectantly. "People call me a freak when they see me talking to thin air."

Hashirama blinked, "Oh…"

Madara shook his head and muttered, "Baka."

"I'm sorry," Hashirama apologize dark lines covering his head as he looked at the ground.

Naruto frowned, it wasn't really that big of a deal…

"The idiot gets depressed easily. Just say you forgive him and he will go back to normal," Madara told him with a small scoff.

He gave a nod and then said, "Um, It's alright Hashirama-sama."

Tobirama had drilled it into him that he should be respectful. Still the Shodai seemed to pick up again, then he paused, "None of that -sama stuff, you can just call me Hashirama."

Naruto just gave a nod, though it confused him. Silence descended as Naruto had no idea what to say. He shivered as a cold breeze caressed against his skin and the shadows once again started to reach and grab for him.

As if sensing his discomfort at the silence Hashirama started rambling on, it wasn't about anything important, mostly telling Naruto about himself and he started launching into the correct telling of history.

How he and Madara had been friends, how they had founded the village together. How Madara had left because he lost faith, and wanted to find a better way to achieve peace. And that he had came back to prove a point.

Madara mostly just listened or injected with a few comments about where Hashirama had understated some things or overstated other things. Hours passed with Naruto listening to them as they walked.

Finally he came across a road and they started walking along the road to Konoha. As the sun started to rise they could see the gates of Konoha in the distance, it shone like a beacon of safety.

As they got closer Naruto noticed a couple of gate guards. They saw him and relaxed. "Uzumaki-san, please wait here," One of them spoke.

Naruto nodded and gave a yawn. His eyes fluttered to a close, only for him to open them a few minutes later when another voice female this time spoke up, "Hokage-sama wishes to see you," The Hummingbird masked woman spoke holding her arms open.

Naruto went to her and she picked him up before shunshining to the Hokage's tower. She let him down and they walked the rest of the way to the office. Naruto gave a tired smile and a wave to the man who was really nice to him, as well as Tobirama.

He idly noticed that neither Hashirama or Madara had followed him up here. Huh. Naruto wondered why they didn't. "Hey Jiji," He greeted though it turned into a yawn. He was exhausted.

"Naruto-kun, where were you?" The old man asked, worry coloring his tone.

"I was at the Valley of the End, then I guess I fell asleep after the genjutsu, when I woke up it was nighttime," Naruto explained quickly. He just wanted to go sleep.

"How did you manage to find your way back?" The Hokage questioned.

Naruto paused, trying to think of a way to not reveal the spirits. Tobirama raised an eye at him. Then his eyes narrowed a bit as Naruto spoke, "I remember the teachers saying it was the border between our country and rice fields, I figured that I could just walk and either come across Konoha, or someone who knew the way to Konoha."

The third Hokage looked at him and Naruto shifted in nervousness. "Did you not think that if you had waited that someone would have come back to pick you up?"

Naruto shook his head, he didn't think that anybody would come for him. They would probably celebrate if he disappeared. "Well since the academy is about to start you are to head there. I better not get any reports of you falling asleep in class either."

"What?! But-"

"This is your punishment for breaking the rules and not sticking with the group."

"But-" Naruto once again tried to protest, he had stayed with the group. Actually since he had stayed with the group then why hadn't someone woke him up? Did they leave him there?

"I have received the reports, several chunin told me they saw you wandering off from the group."

"They're lying! I stayed with the group!"

The Hokage gave him a stern look, "Naruto, do not try and make excuses, it is unbecoming of a ninja."

Naruto huffed and gave up trying to defend himself, obviously the old man wouldn't believe him. "We will be discussing this later," The Nidaime stated.

He gave a small dip of his head in acknowledgement, "Off to the academy before you are late now Naruto-kun, be glad I am being so lenient and not removing you for disobeying the rules."

With the clear dismissal he turned and left. Why didn't his Jiji believe him? He exited out of the tower and started trudging through the streets. He was tired, and upset, and he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours.

When he exited out of the tower Hashirama and Madara started following him again. As soon as he found himself alone with them he asked, "Are you going to keep following me?"

Why would they do that? He wasn't anyone important. The only interesting thing was that for some reason he could see and talk to spirits. Maybe that was why. "Yep, this should take care of some of the boredom," Hashirama answered with a beam.

Madara gave a snort, "If you entertain me enough I will see about teaching you a thing or two," He bribed with a smirk.

Naruto grinned widely at the thought of training, especially from someone as legendary as Madara. "Alright then! To the academy we go!" He cheered with a new bounce in his steps. Forgetting the issue with the Hokage for the moment.

Hashirama chuckled and they went into the academy. Where Naruto struggled with staying awake through the exceedingly long and tedious lecture. At least he had Hashirama and Madara to help him stay awake. If they weren't there Naruto knew he would have fallen asleep and possibly get some other punishment from the Hokage.

When lunch came his stomach rumbled and he enviously watched the other students eat their meals. He just had to go home, once he was home he could eat. Finally the tortures lunch period was over and lessons continued. The teacher droned on, the words crawling along slower than a snail. It was pure torture.

Finally the academy ended and Naruto rushed home and made a cup of noodles. As soon as it was done he tore into it, burning his tongue in the process, but he didn't care. He was starving. Glancing at his supplies he made another cup of noodles and ate this one more slowly.

"Hn, you act as if you had not eaten in forever," Madara commented, a sneer pulling at his lips as he watched the boy eat in disgust.

"It's been close to 48 hours," Naruto shot back.

Madara blinked.

Naruto went to the bathroom and brought in a change of clothes, he didn't feel comfortable changing in front of the spirits. First though he took a quick shower. Once he got dressed he went to his pad and collapsed.

He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

* * *

**End Note: **So much writing. Good news, I should be updating this over the next couple of days. There isn't really any bad news unless you read my other stories in which then those won't be updated while I focus on this.


	6. Chapter Five

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Chapter Five Teaser: **Naruto trains and on the 30th spars against some of his classmates.

**Author Notes: **I am being productive. Be surprised everyone. I wrote two chapters in one day. Last chapter in the AM's before I went to sleep. And this chapter after I woke up.

**Naruto age and Month: **5 years old, September 26th-30th

**Original Word Count:** 723

**New Word Count: **3,066

**Date Written: **7/8/19

**Date Posted: **7/10/19

* * *

_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part Five**

* * *

"Wake up!" Was what he heard, his first warning, which he didn't realize and thus choose to ignore as he snuggled deeper into his warm blankets.

"You need to wake up Naruto," The voice continued annoyingly bright and cheerful. Naruto cracked an eye open, if it was time to go to the academy he would have heard his alarm go off.

Seeing as it was completely dark he closed his eyes and mumbled, "Go away. Let me sleep."

He managed to get back to sleep, though not for long.

A loud blaring claxon jerked him awake and he stumbled out of bed and covered his ears. He glared at Hashirama who was grinning as he released the hand sign he had been holding. Madara floated into the room and was also glaring at him. It took a few moments before the ringing in his ears stopped.

He slowly stood up from his undignified position on the floor, "What was that for? It's not even close to the time that I need to wake up to get ready for the academy," Naruto whined, he was still exhausted from having been up so long yesterday.

Hashirama gave a grin, "Remember, your teachers said that they would hold a spar once a month starting in a few days."

Naruto gave a confused look, "So?"

"So… Madara and I have decided to see about giving you some training."

Naruto gave a grin at that, then paused, "What does that have to do with waking up this early though?"

"Well if you ever want to become as good as us, you will have to start training now, you're already behind as it is."

"But.., you guys are legendary! How could I ever match up to your strength? Not even Hokage-Jiji could ever hope to compete with you guys!" Naruto exclaimed. If he had learned anything from that gengetsu, it was these two were very powerful. Besides, he was the hated orphan, there was no way _he_ of all people could get so strong. Right?

Madara seemed to smirk as Naruto said this, Hashirama gave Madara a slight glare, "Hush, there is no need to inflate Madara's ego even more," He said giving a slight scold to Naruto.

Which he promptly ignored, he was only being honest after all. It would be payback for waking him up in such a rude way. His ears still had a faint ringing to them from that claxon. He inwardly cackled. Not realizing that some of his laughter was coming out.

Hashirama felt a shiver of dread travel through him as he heard the muffled chuckles escaping the blonde. It reminded him of Madara when they were children and the Uchiha had been planning payback on him. Then the man had learned to mask the chuckles and Hashirama's only warning that he was in for some sort of payback was gone. He warily glanced at Madara and saw the man gave a large smirk, his visible eye glinting.

Madara had heard the chuckles, and had indeed been reminded of himself. So he decided he could help the boy, after all it wasn't impossible for the boy to be distantly related to the Uchiha.

They watched as the boy skipped breakfast and Hashirama frowned, "Naruto-kun, aren't you going to eat?"

"No, I don't have enough money so I have to ration my food. Once I get my monthly allowance then I can see about stocking up on food after I pay my rent."

Hashirama gave a small nod at that, though he still had a worried look on his face. "Right let's find a training field then."

So the group left the apartment and Naruto followed Hashirama and Madara as they walked through Konoha. As it was so early, not many people were out and about, for which Naruto was glad as it meant he wouldn't have to deal with their glares yet.

Eventually the two of them arrived at a training field. "Alright, Naruto, we will begin with improving your taijutsu. Please take your stance."

Naruto took the stance that the PE teacher had taught them. Madara scoffed at the sight "We have quite a bit of effort ahead of us, that stance leaves way to many openings."

"Which style do you think would be better for him to start with?"

Madara gazed at him, "Run through the kata's you know boy."

So Naruto began, a couple minutes later he had finished. "For now it would be better for your style, he seems suited for speed. And until we can build up his endurance and strength it will be better."

Hashirama nodded, "Naruto run around the training field at your fastest pace until you are ready to collapse."

So he did. For an hour he continued to push himself as hard as he could. By the end of the hour though he collapsed, exhausted as his legs felt like jelly. Hashirama and Madara gazed at him and then shared a glance. "Five minute break then you will run for another hour at your fastest pace."

Naruto gaped, but was unable to protest as he was out of breath, he didn't even think he could stand much less run more. Still they were teaching him, willingly, and he was glad, the only one who had willingly taught him stuff before was Tobirama.

The spirit had said they would speak later, which meant the next time the man came to visit him, and as his birthday was coming up soon that was probably when the man would visit him. Naruto blinked, he had nearly forgot to continue practicing what Tobirama had taught him, he would have to see if he could observe anything in class today, or maybe during recess.

It was still harder to spot things without the nidaime guiding him though. With the five minutes over Naruto struggled to get up and pushed himself to run. He pushed himself to ignore the burning in his legs, to ignore the way he wobbled.

He had more people willing to help him, and even if they were dead he didn't want to let them down. If the living wouldn't acknowledge him, then maybe the dead would. He would just have to prove himself to them, to gain their respect.

Maybe after that the living would respect him. Naruto dreamed of the day that everyone would acknowledge him and he would be accepted, the day when he was no longer the freak or the demon boy.

Another hour passed with him pushing on, though it was starting to get hard to see, for some reason the edge of his vision was now black. Naruto blinked and wondered how he got on the ground, he didn't remember sitting down.

Slowly he stood back up and finished the lap. Once in front of his teachers he gave a tired grin and decided that maybe a small nap would be a good idea.

With that he collapsed.

He woke up sometime later, he got up and cradled his head it was pounding. "Hey, Naruto, when was the last time you drank some water?" Hashirama asked, the man didn't recall Naruto drinking anything through the time he had been with the boy.

Naruto shrugged, it had probably been a few days, but he couldn't really remember. "Why didn't you drink some water this morning?"

"You're not supposed to drink tap water, cause it has ba-bactia- germs in it," Naruto replied trying to remember the word the matron of the orphanage had called the germs but eventually giving up.

Hashirama and Madara shared a look at this, "You are training to be a ninja, correct?"

Naruto gave a nod to this looking confused.

"Drinking tap water is healthier than drinking straight from the river. And as ninjas we sometimes have to drink from rivers. If you get sick from it then it will help build up your immune system. Now let's get you home, then you will be drinking plenty of water and getting ready for the academy."

Not seeing any reason why he shouldn't agree he shrugged and headed back to his apartment, focusing and trying to see his surroundings, to notice things about people as he walked back.

Still being quite early most people were still preparing for their days, but some of the early birds were walking towards their jobs, or heading to do whatever it was that they do. The few people who were at still went out of their way to avoid him. "What is the bad omen doing out here this early?" He heard one person whisper to someone else.

Bad omen? That was new, he hadn't heard anyone call him that before. A few minutes of walking after that and he had arrived at his apartment. Once there Hashirama made him drink two cups of water before taking a shower, then once he was done he had to drink two more cups.

And bring one to the academy. Drinking so much water made him feel bloated. Then he was on his way to the academy and had to suffer through another boring lesson, though he made sure to take good notes.

Shikamaru was pretty good at helping him understand the written material. Everyday he would hand the notes over to Shikamaru and on friday the two would meet and go over the notes. Tomorrow was friday so he would meet with the boy then.

The academy ended and after handing his notes to Shikamaru he left following the ghosts as they arrived and told him to follow them back to the training field.

"Alright, so do ten laps around the training field, but pace yourself to a decent pace," Hashirama directed.

So Naruto set out for a light jog and did ten laps, though he was still pretty tired by the end. The training fields weren't that small after all. "Okay, now do 20 reps of the basic exercises."

"Basic exercises?" Naruto parroted.

"Sit up, push ups, and squats."

So Naruto did twenty of each. Which was twice as much as the academy, and he really felt the burn. But he did them. He was worn out though.

"Okay, now that you have done the warm ups I will begin teaching you the basics of the Senju Speed style," Hashirama said and started teaching him.

Hours passed with the man making him repeat different Kata's over and over again. He was barely able to drag himself home, he didn't even bother paying attention to the villagers glaring at him, he didn't try to practice what Tobirama had taught him, he was simply too tired to. He went to his apartment and took a quick shower to wash the sweat and grime off. Then, after drinking some water under Hashirama's stern gaze he collapsed into his bed and was asleep once more.

The next day he woke up and once more had to run laps past the point of collapse, though he didn't faint this time. After his run he returned to his apartment and took a shower, drank some water and then was off to the academy. When the academy ended he was tutored by Shikamaru for an hour on the weeks material which was the history of the founding. Then he went with the ghosts to the training fields and did the twenty reps of the basic exercises. Following that Hashirama continued drilling him in the taijutsu Kata's.

Night had fallen once again when Naruto dragged himself back home, first to take a shower, then to eat a cup of noodles, and then to bed. He had two days to train and get used to the Senju speed style before Monday in which the PE teacher would have them spar against each other.

The two days passed by in pain and suffering, Hashirama was pushing him hard, and Naruto thought that the Shodai was supposed to be the kind one between him and Madara. When it came to training someone though the man set high standards and constantly pushed him to his limits and beyond.

Madara mostly watched and helped to point out flaws, or alternate suggestions. Naruto had a couple of Uchiha Interceptor style kata's mixed in with his Senju Speed style kata's. The Uchiha kata's he learned were mostly for defense, to block or dodge attacks and use them to find and opening. He also drilled him in knowing the openings of the academy style.

Monday came and Hashirama let him not train so hard, so that he had more energy for his spar. Arriving at the academy Naruto could feel the apprehension in the air, students were both worried and eager to test out their taijutsu in a spar.

Unfortunately PE was to be their last class of the day. Hours passed with most students being unable to sit still or concentrate. "Alright, we will now begin the spars. Please partner up. The winner of your spar will spar against the winner of another winner. If you lose, you can either leave early, watch the other spars, or train to get better," The PE teacher, Sensei, spoke sternly.

Naruto turned to the person nearest him, a lanky boy named Jin Jon. The two fought and Naruto beat him with a couple quick strikes, utilising the openings left in the academy style that Madara had pointed out.

After a few more people students started leaving, or moving to the edge of the room to watch or do their own training. Naruto met eyes with Kanro Saimon and the two started to spar each other. Saimon lasted a bit longer then Jon, but soon forfeited.

The spars started to finish up and only five of them remained, besides for him Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga, Choji Akimichi, and Hitokuchi Muda ended up winning.

"Alright, I will be pairing you to fight now, Hyuuga and Muda, you will fight, Uchiha you will fight whichever of them wins. Uzumaki, you and Akimichi wil fight."

The two of them started their spar with the traditional seal of confrontation. Akimichi was different from his previous opponents, he was using a clan style, so Naruto focused watching and dodging the attacks, looking for an opening as Madara had taught him. Seeing one he made a feint for it.

He was glad he had only made a feint and not a real move as the rotund boy seemed to have left it in purpose and went to grab. Which left a real opening that Naruto could exploit. With the boy pinned to the ground Naruto won. The two boys made the seal of reconciliation and Choji went to Shikamaru who was sitting against the wall.

Looking over he saw that Hinata and Sasuke were fighting. "Hey it looks like we made it in time!" Hashirama chirped.

"Hn," Madara grunted looking around, "We missed most of the fights."

"Well at least we can still watch Naruto fight against whoever wins."

Madara gave a nod to that, then turned to him, "You better win boy, prove that us training you is worth it."

Naruto gained an extra determination to win at that. He didn't want them to think he wasn't worth training, he didn't want them to leave. He liked having people around that wanted to talk to him. Madara smirked at him seeing his determination.

Sasuke won against Hinata.

"Alright, now for the final fight Sasuke Uchiha vs. Naruto Uzumaki."

The two of them stood in front of each other. They made the seal of confrontation. Then they began, Sasuke rushed forward to punch him and Naruto dodged out of the way, using his speed to try and get behind the boy, but it seemed Sasuke was fast as well as he turned and blocked Naruto's punch.

Sasuke used his own speed to try and kick Naruto, though he was able to block it and tried to grab the Uchiha's leg to unbalance him. Sasuke used this to his own advantage though and nearly landed the first punch on Naruto.

As Naruto let go the two boys jumped away from each other. A crowd was gathering, most of them cheering Sasuke on. But Naruto heard two voices cheering for him, "Come on Naruto! You can do it!" Hashirama called out.

"Surely you can beat up my relative. Or is your dancing weaker than his?" Madara questioned.

The dancing bit confused him, but it was the first part of the statement that Naruto paid attention too. Madara believed that he could beat Sasuke. Naruto didn't want to let them down so he concentrated, watching Sasuke as the raven haired boy gazed back at him.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sasuke taunted.

Naruto smirked in response, which unseen by him it looked similar to Madara's. "I am just getting warmed up," Naruto replied.

Once again the two boys dashed at each other. They fought and Naruto managed to land the first punch, though Sasuke quickly evened the score. They punched and kicked, dodged and evaded.

Naruto wasn't going to lose this, he thought that if he lost Madara and Hashirama would leave him. It may not have been true, but it was what he thought, and so he fought with a desperation and determination. He wouldn't lose.

It seemed like forever, but was only 10 mins later when the instructor told them to stop. "It seems you boys are matched, the class is about to end so we will call it a tie."

Naruto glanced at Hashirama and Madara and saw that they were proud of him, Hashirama with a wide beaming grin, and Madara with a small smirk of approval. So Naruto grinned as well. He may not have won this time, but he would next time. He left excited. Others left as well, some excited and happy, others frustrated.

Sasuke was one of those who were frustrated, he had thought he had the win. He had thought that Naruto had made it through on luck. To his surprise though Naruto was actually a talented fighter. He went home and asked, read: begged, Itachi to train him.

Naruto upon leaving went to train some more so that next month when they spared again he would win against the boy. He would not let Hashirama or Madara down. That night he went to sleep and dreamt of being Hokage and everyone recognizing him.

* * *

**End Note:** I hope you enjoyed!


	7. Chapter Six

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_N/A_

* * *

**Chapter Six Teaser: **Rivals and training.

**Author Notes: **So this is some new details, fixing up the massive time skip I had in the original. Also I started this version a year younger then the Naruto of the original. It fixed some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff I had going.

**Helpful Note: **Ten Ryo is equal to one dollar in the US.

**Naruto age and Month: **5 years old, October 1st-9th

**Original Word Count:** 0

**New Word Count: **3554

**Date Written: **7/9/19

**Date Posted: **7/11/19

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_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part Six**

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[_October 1st: Tuesday_]

He woke up and threw on some clothes before he eagerly went to his mail slot, it contained his money for the month. Going back inside of his apartment he went to the table where Hashirama was sitting with some see through book. Naruto paused at that, how did he have a spirit book?

To excited to properly think about that he opened the envelope and pulled out the money. "Let's see. The monthly rent is 8,000 ryo."

Madara raised an eyebrow at that from his spot of leaning on the wall. He glanced around and shook his head a bit. "That seems to be pretty expensive for this rundown place."

"Really? What do you think the price should be?"

"From the state of this place, maybe around half that."

"It's probably that there has been some inflation since we died Madara," Hashirama pointed out.

"Hn."

"After the academy I need to go shopping to restock my food," Naruto told the spirits. Hashirama gave a nod.

Naruto got the money and went to the front desk where he paid the landlady who was sitting there to receive the payments. She watched him the entire time with narrowed suspicious eyes. He didn't say a word as he handed over the money. Slowly she counted it making sure it was all there before nodding to him and he left.

The rest of the money was kept securely on him. His apartment had been broken into a couple times, and the one time he had money left in the building it had been stolen. His lesson was learned after that, and Naruto never left his money, or anything of importance to him in the apartment. Not that he really had anything he considered important.

He went to the academy and only paid enough attention in order to take notes for Shikamaru. He was getting pretty good at just being able to write what was being said without paying much actual attention.

At the end of the day he gave his notes to Shikamaru before heading off to go shopping for food. Hashirama and Madara joined him as soon as the academy ended. So they went shopping, Hashirama kept pointing out different healthy foods Naruto should get to grow up big and strong.

Yet Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to afford all of it, he would have to pay the orphan tax afterall. Still he couldn't say anything out loud since people were nearby so he figured he would just let Hashirama see the price.

The Shodai probably didn't know about the orphan tax, Naruto was pretty sure it had been set up after the Kyuubi attack when there was a large boom of orphans. He didn't understand why there was an orphan tax, he thought they should be getting discounts. It wasn't his decision to make though.

Going to checkout he saw the price and sighed, it was way more than his monthly allowance. He glanced at Hashirama to see him look shocked when the cashier mentioned the orphan tax. Another glance at Madara showed him that Madara's face could have been carved out of rock from how frozen in stoicism it was.

"Let me but some of the groceries back," Naruto told the cashier and the man sneered at him and grumbled about him wasting his time.

"Are those prices normal for you Naruto-kun?" Hashirama questioned.

Naruto gave a small nod in response.

"This won't do at all! What is with that Orphan tax? That can't be real," Hashirama spoke starting to pace back and forth as Naruto moved to put away most of the vegetables. "Are all the stores like this?"

Naruto once more nodded in confirmation. "Right! We are going to have to set you up with your own source of food then. Leave all of this, we are going to a greenhouse nursery. I know one of them existed, hopefully it's still around."

Hashirama marched off and Madara and him followed after him, Madara wearing an exasperated look and Naruto was mostly confused. Then Hashirama entered the abandoned district and Naruto shuddered, "Do we have to go there?" He asked stopping before fully entering _that_ area.

Hashirama turned and blinked at him surprised, "Yeah, the nursery was in this area."

Naruto shivered feeling eyes on him and took a couple steps away. "That areas been abandoned… besides its _haunted_."

Madara raised an eyebrow, "You can see spirits, and yet you consider it haunted?"

He nodded and his eyes flickered to the side where he thought he saw some movement. With another shudder he barely managed to whisper out, "It's because I see spirits that I know that place is haunted… the spirits there are unstable."

Naruto shook and as he caught another flicker to the edge of his vision he turned and fled. Ever since that night he couldn't stand being around this part of Konoha. After a few minutes he stopped. That area terrified him.

"Right… well we still need to find a nursery, maybe ask around then?" Hashirama suggested a worried look in his eyes.

As long as he didn't have to enter that area Naruto would be fine with it, with that though Naruto started asking around, ignoring that most people glared at him and ignored him. Finally someone pointed him in a general direction and Naruto made his way there. It took an hour but he eventually found it and Hashirama directed him to buy several plants. Then Naruto had to carry all of them as Hashirama led him to another training field.

It wasn't the one he normally trained at, this one was instead more heavily forested and seemed faintly ominous. Was that a giant snake?

"Here we go! Training ground 44, I made it personally."

Madara blinked, "When did you make this?"

Hashirama gained a despondent look. "After I killed you..."

The raven haired man gained a look of understanding, "Baka, you did what you had to, now come on let's go."

Naruto blinked as Hashirama just seemed to grin at Madara and then they entered into the forest, completely missing the keep out signs. They didn't go far only a few hundred feet until Hashirama had him stop and start digging into the ground and set up the plants. After a couple hours of digging into the ground and replanting the crops he stood up and stretched. Night had fallen an hour ago.

So Naruto went back to his apartment and took a shower and then ate his last cup of noodles before going to bed.

The next day he woke up did his morning routine of running past his point of exhaustion and then taking a shower before heading to the academy and collapsing into the chair. He was getting faster though. At least according to Hashirama. He took notes and handed them to Shikamaru, who handed him back yesterday notes. The boy made a spare copy of the notes when he got home apparently. Either that or memorized them, either way Naruto got his notes back.

The end of the day came and the ghost duo were waiting for him and once more they went back to the forest of death. Madara crossed his arms and stared at him, "Today I will be showing you trap making and hunting."

"Don't you need wires and stuff for traps?" Naruto asked.

"I will be showing you how to make traps using the resources around you. Be glad that it is me teaching you, Hashirama has always been terrible at traps."

"And you are a terrible gardner."

"I can plant my seeds just fine," Madara retorted.

Hashirama's eyes narrowed, "Not that anybody ever buys your produces."

Madara just smirked, "I already have the only person I need buying my products."

Naruto blinked confused. What was going on, were the two arguing? It didn't really sound like arguing. He didn't really want to see them fight, so he decided to interrupt, "Please don't fight."

Hashirama turned to him and cooed. "Don't worry me and Madara aren't fighting. Why don't you begin your lesson Madara."

"You should pay attention as well, maybe you will pick something up. Though I wouldn't be surprised if you somehow managed to make it explode again."

Hashirama gained those depressive lines around his head again. "That was one time…" He muttered sullenly.

Madara shook his head with an amused look in his eyes, but he turned and started explaining how to make traps. How to find the traces of game in the forest and the best places to put the traps.

After a couple hours of practicing making the traps Madara declared him, "Adequate."

Hashirama went wide eyed at that though, "Woah, you must be a natural at trapping. Madara never gives such high praise. I remember when a supposed trap master had decided to undergo Madara's test. Madara had rated him as 'Pitiful'."

Madara smirked in amusement, "Hn."

Once more he was only leaving when night fell, but he was pretty happy with himself.

Hashirama had pointed out a ton of berry plants, it seemed that this forest was able to grow berries despite it being late fall. Hashirama theorized it had something to do with his chakra being what created the plants.

Naruto had managed to eat his fill of berries, and they were some of the best fruits he had ever eaten, they were so sweet and flavorful. He went home took a shower and went to bed. Tomorrow he would be bringing a bucket to the forest to collect the berries to store in his fridge.

He woke up and grabbed a small lunch container he had, he would fill it with berries. He did his normal morning training went to the academy took notes, then PE came and he practiced his kata's. Sensei didn't care if your practiced clan or your own katas or the academy katas so long as you were practicing.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who was glaring at him. Naruto glared back and started to push himself harder. He would beat the boy.

Sasuke seeing this also pushed himself harder. He would not be outdone by some clanless wannabe shinobi.

In that moment a rivalry was born. Both of them wanted to improve and outdo the other. One had the help of an entire clan, and the other had the help of two legends. The day ended and Naruto returned to the forest with Hashirama and Madara, after checking and resetting the traps he practiced his kata's again.

He hadn't caught anything, but that was fine Madara said it might take awhile. He left tired and worn out as Hashirama pushed him hard. But he also had a lunch bento full of berries. And he had eaten his fill. He went home and put the container in the fridge. Then he took a shower and went to bed a large grin on his face.

He was happy that the ghosts were willing to train and teach him, he was learning so much. They never glared at him for asking questions, never insulted him. The next morning he woke up and did his morning training with an extra hop in his step.

Even as the villagers glared at him he couldn't help but grin. Hashirama and Madara were awesome and he was glad that they were willing to teach him. Still he was practicing what Tobirama had taught him, and as he grinned he noticed that some of the villagers seemed unsettled and wary. He caught whispers of them wondering if he was planning something.

They acted like he was going to snap and kill them at any moment. Naruto continued grinning, but the happiness was gone. Why did the villagers act like so?

He went to the academy and wrote the notes. For lunch he could eat the berries. At the end of the day he spent an hour with Shikamaru studying the notes. Even if studying didn't really help his grades. No matter how hard he had studied he barely was able to get a passing grade. So he decided to focus more on the physical training and only studied with Shikamaru.

Why did he need to know history or about some fantasy book written to be a ninja? He didn't but the merge academy was focused on teaching them basic civilian stuff for those who weren't able to make it as ninja.

After he was done studying with Shikamaru he went to the forest and checked the traps, a couple of them had been activated, and one of them even had a corpse in it. What the animal had been he couldn't tell, one of the forest's predators had gotten to the animal before he could. So he reset the traps, continued training and picked more berries before he left.

The next day was Saturday and as such he could spend the majority of his day training. He ate the berries for breakfast before leaving his apartment. He ran laps around the old training field before moving to the forest where he checked his traps to find that there was no sign of anything having been caught.

He trained for hours under Hashirama, stopping only when his stomach rumbled. He didn't want to eat the berries though, "I'm going to Ichiraku's for lunch, I haven't eaten there in forever."

Hashirama and Madara shrugged and followed him as he went to the ramen shop, "Ah Naruto, how is my favorite customer doing?" The old man asked with a grin.

"I'm doing fine! 3 Miso's please."

"Coming right up."

Soon he was served and Naruto quickly started to devour the food. After he was stuffed he paid the ramen stand owner and waved at Ayame, she was 12 and was starting to learn how to cook ramen.

He returned to the forest and checked on how the garden was going. Hashirama said they seemed to be growing pretty fast. Then he went back to training. That night he went to bed tired.

The next day instead of going to the forest Madara led Hashirama and him to a large lake, "Today I will be teaching you how to fish, since the forest does not seem to be giving us much game."

Hashirama groaned, "Madara… the way you fish is not the correct way."

"It is effective, that is all that matters."

Hashirama shook his head.

"Ignore Hashirama, he is simply jealous that I always catch more fish than him," Madara told Naruto smirking.

"Throwing fireballs at a lake does not count as fishing!" Hashirama protested.

"I get the fish do I not?"

"You do," Hashirama reluctantly admitted.

"Then it counts as fishing. Now my young student, I would demonstrate, but as I am just a ghost the results would not exactly be visible. I will be teaching you the great fireball, and when you have it learned you will aim it down at the lake and boil the water killing the fish within. Then we will scoop up our catch and have dinner."

Madara showed him the seals necessary and directed him. Hours passed with Naruto practicing and burning his throat and coughing smoke. By the end of the day he was able to make a small fireball, only 2 and a half feet wide and round. Madara said he would improve with practice.

With such a small fireball it took him a long time, but he managed to kill a fish. Madara then taught him how to gut and clean the fish. Naruto carried the meat home and following Madara's directions he cooked it in the oven, it was simple, but filling.

The next day was Monday and Naruto had to do the academy. He went for his normal run before showering and then heading to the academy. He took notes and gave them to Shikamaru before going to the forest.

He did his training for the day and before he left he grabbed berries as he checked his traps. He was surprised to find one of his traps had managed to catch a fairly large squirrel in it. He grabbed it and went to a river like Madara told him and then skinned and gutted the squirrel. "Let us return to your apartment, I will teach you how to cook," Madara spoke and gave an amused chuckle when Hashirama suggested that he could help.

"You burn everything. Even things that do not need heat to be cooked. The only times you got a home cooked meal was if Mito or I made you something."

"So mean…" Hashirama muttered that depressive cloud of his appearing over his head.

So when Naruto returned to his apartment and put the squirrel meat in the fridge. Since he had no supplies Madara directed him to a store for a few basic spices and supplies. It took away a good chunk of his money, but Madara said the supplies would last for a great many meals. With that he returned and started cooking the meat, following Madara's directions.

Roasted squirrel tasted amazing. It was mouth watering. Even though it had ended up slightly burned. He went to bed with a full stomach and dreamed of squirrels and ramen.

He woke up Tuesday the 8th and went to do his run, he was surprised by just how much more energy he seemed to have now that he was eating everyday. He was able to push himself harder, run even faster. He still was worn out after a couple hours, but that was because of how much he was pushing himself.

Naruto ignored the glares and instead gave a large grin and forced an extra hop in his step even if his legs hurt. The glares turned wary and slightly fearful. Naruto pretended he didn't notice. The villagers seemed to fear him for whatever reason, and Naruto wanted to annoy them for their glares.

Why couldn't they just treat him like a normal person?

Going to the academy he wrote notes and gave them to Shikamaru before going to the forest. He was training with Hashirama when the man asked, "Naruto, do you know why the villagers glare at you?"

"No… they've always glared at me."

"It's not right, you're such a bright boy!"

"Do not forget that the 'orphan tax' is bullshit that they tell Naruto only," Madara grumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Language!" Hashirama scolded lightly.

Madara rolled his eyes, or at least Naruto assumed he rolled both of them, only one of them was visible. Could you roll only one eye? Naruto tried it. Hm it seemed you could roll only one eye.

Madara and Hashirama saw him do that and Naruto went red in embarrassment as he realized they had seen him. Hashirama guffawed loudly. Naruto pouted as Madara chuckled. "Did you think I rolled only one eye?" The man questioned an amused look in his eye.

Naruto just nodded, then before he could stop himself he asked, "Do you have both eyes?"

Hashirama fell onto the floor and was laughing hysterically. Naruto looked at him a bit worried. Madara glared at Hashirama. "Yes I do, my hair naturally covers my eye," He said and moved his hair out of the way so Naruto could see his other eye. He let go and the hair fell back over the eye.

"You can stop laughing, baka," Madara said with another glare at Hashirama as he crossed his arms. It took Madara giving Hashirama a small kick to his ribs in order for Hashirama to stop and then resume Naruto's training.

He went home with berries and a rabbit his traps had caught. Madara had him cook rabbit stew. Naruto had leftovers of it even, the young blonde went to sleep with a grin and a full belly.

The next day was the day before his birthday, which was enough reason for him to be happy. Tobirama-sama and his Jiji should be coming tomorrow. Still he had things to do so he went for his run, then showered and went to the academy, he took notes for Shikamaru and after giving them started to make his way to the forest to train some more. He paused as he exited out of the academy and watched Sasuke who was being picked up by an older boy.

The older boy said something and Sasuke grinned, then the older boy, his brother Naruto was pretty sure said something else and Sasuke flushed. Then the brother chuckled and ruffled his hair. Naruto wished he had an older brother.

He trained hard, but he wanted to know something, he had been thinking and to him Hashirama and Madara seemed like older brothers to him, they taught him, and helped him as much as they could.

"Hashirama… Madara…?" Naruto hesitantly called for their attention.

"Yes?" Hashirama asked with a friendly smile.

"Will… will you be my older brothers please?" Naruto quickly rushed out and looked down in embarrassment, he shouldn't have asked that, now they were going to reject him and leave him and treat him like the rest of the villagers.

"Sure! You can call me you Nii-san if you want!" Hashirama exclaimed happily. Naruto looked up to see the man right in front of him. Giving him a hug though Naruto felt nothing.

"Hn, I suppose I would not mind you calling me your older brother," Madara stated, despite his words though Naruto caught a fond look in his eyes.

They called training done for the day and Naruto checked on his garden and watered the plants before going to pick berries and check his traps which ended up empty.

He went to his apartment and ate his leftovers for dinner after taking a shower. With a feeling of family and comfort he went to sleep. Tomorrow would be his birthday and Naruto didn't think anything could ruin the day.

* * *

**End Note: **I can't guarantee an update tomorrow. Chapter Seven has given me a few issues, but once it's done it will be awesome!


	8. Chapter Seven

**Calling Upon the Shadows of the Past**

**By: **TheDeadGirlRisen

**Beta'ed by: **_SirKnightChase816, RikuKingdomHearts, and TMartX13_

* * *

**Chapter Seven Teaser: **Birthday Memories.

**Author Notes: ***Grins* I haven't even started writing this yet, but I've been excited for this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

**Naruto age and Month: **6 years old, October 10th

**Original Word Count:** 0

**New Word Count: **5140

**Date Written: **7/9/19 - 7/12/19

**Date Posted: **7/13/19

* * *

_**Arc 1: **__The First Year of the Academy_

**Part Seven**

* * *

Naruto woke up excited, today was his birthday and he was now six years old. The old man Hokage would be visiting him after the academy. Tobirama would probably come around then as well. He finished his leftovers of duck soup for breakfast. He went to the academy with an extra hop in his step, though the sky seemed unusually cloudy today. He hoped it didn't rain, still he continued on with a large grin on his face even if the villagers were extra mean today. They were always extra vicious on his birthday.

He was pretty sure it was because he had been born on the day the Kyuubi attacked. Huh, maybe that _was_ the reason why the villagers hated him. Though he didn't know how they knew when his birthday was.

As the young blonde sat down and listened to the teachers, it just so happened they decided to talk about the Kyuubi's attack. He then noticed Hinoka and Akumajo giving him glares, as if he was the reason the Kyuubi attacked the village. He did his best to ignore it, remembering one of the pieces of advice Tobirama had given him, back when he only knew the spirit as Ghost. "Ignore the glares for they do not understand. One day they will realize you are a strong ninja, and will then respect you. Until then, study and train."

He didn't understand what the villagers didn't understand, but Tobirama didn't tell him why, saying it wasn't his place. It was a bit easier to ignore the glares though since today was his birthday and the Hokage-jiji would be visiting him later, maybe the man would even bring him a cake.

Last year he had been given his apartment, but he didn't know what he would be getting this year. The academy day seemed to drag on and on and on. It was lasting forever, each passing second seemed like an eternity. As the day continued it's slow crawl, he became more and more twitchy. He wanted to get out of here and celebrate his birthday. Not be stuck behind a desk learning boring stuff.

It was finally nearing the end of the day when an argument broke out. This wasn't completely uncommon, but when he turned to see, Naruto was surprised to witness that Kiba Inuzuka and Kanro Saimon were the ones arguing.

After the first day, the two both connected over the both of them loving dogs and had become fast friends. Kiba wasn't really friends with anyone else, but Kanro did hang out with Ruisu Burindorī pretty often.

Before he had a chance to understand what the argument was about, the two suddenly began attacking each other. The teachers quickly jumped in and pulled the two boys apart. Shaking his head, he left and decided he could figure out what happened with that tomorrow.

Today instead of picking him up, Madara and Hashirama were waiting for him at his apartment, Naruto had told them how his Jiji would becoming to pick him up and they said they didn't want to distract him by being there.

Walking out of the academy, he paused as he noticed that the clouds were still there hanging in the sky, they seemed even darker. Naruto grinned as he spotted Hokage-jiji standing next to the swing waiting for him. Tobirama-sama was standing behind him as well and dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement.

Naruto waved back, his Jiji would just think he was waving at him. "Naruto-kun, how have you been?" The old man asked.

"Good! I've been training really hard over the past couple of weeks!" Naruto excitedly told the Hokage.

The man chuckled, "That's good, let's get you some ramen."

"Yay!" Naruto cheered. He loved ramen, but Hashirama and Madara said that he shouldn't eat it so often in order to grow stronger. Seeing as the two of them were the strongest shinobi ever, he believed them, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. However, that meant that eating ramen was even better now since he didn't eat it so often.

As he and the Hokage walked to Ichiraku's he rambled on about different things, though as he had promised Tobirama he kept the fact he could see spirits a secret. He had tried telling the man before, but the Hokage just thought he had imaginary friends.

The Hokage was pretty awesome, much better than most of the people of Konoha, but sometimes Naruto caught a strange look in the man's eyes when the Hokage looked at him. It wasn't the same look the villagers eyes, but it wasn't really friendly either.

He didn't know what that look was, but he didn't like it either, so he ignored the look when it came into the Hokage's eyes. At least his Jiji was trying. Soon he had eaten his fill on ramen and his Jiji told him there would be a surprise waiting back at his apartment.

Happily he started to dash towards his apartment pulling the Hokage along, though noticing a disapproving look from Tobirama he stopped pulling so much. Glancing at Tobirama again, he noticed some of the disapproval was gone, though he still seemed slightly disapproving.

Probably from him showing his excitement so much. Naruto tried to make his wide beaming grin smaller.

It was impossible though as he was just to excited. A rumble in the distance came and Naruto noticed a flash in the sky. It seemed that it would be raining in a little bit. Finally he made it to his apartment and ran in with the old man not to far behind him. Tobirama was only a couple steps behind the Hokage.

When Tobirama stepped in tension filled the air as the Nidaime glared at Madara who glared right back. Hashirama started to glance between the two, a worried look on his face. "Naruto-kun?" The Hokage questioned.

He blinked and looked at the man who seemed to be waiting for some kind of response. The young blonde then noticed he was standing next to a small orange cake, "Wow, thanks Jiji! It looks amazing!"

For now he would have to ignore the tense atmosphere from the spirits. The Hokage lit a candle with the number six, "Go ahead make a wish."

Naruto closed his eyes, '_I wish to be able to become as strong as Tobirama and Hashirama and Madara and protect Konoha and be the pillar of support just like the Hokage's._' He thought as he blew out the candle.

The fire flickered out and a small stream of smoke drifted up, sending his wish to the heavens. The Hokage gave him a grin and cut into the cake, it was small, meant for only a single person, but it was perfect for the two of them. Naruto dug into his piece with relish, he rarely got to eat something like cake.

Hashirama smiled at him, "I hope that whatever you wish for comes true Naruto-kun."

Glancing at Tobirama and Madara he saw the two also giving him encouraging looks in their own way. Madara via a small smirk, and Tobirama with a slight dip of his head in acknowledgement.

When they finished the cake the Hokage slid one of two presents over to him. Beaming he opened the first box, it contained several shirts and shorts. Naruto beamed happy, glad to get the new clothes, his old ones had started to get really small. "Go ahead open your second present."

Naruto did and found that it contained a basic set of Kunai and shuriken, blunted of course, but they were perfect for a starter. "Thank you!" Naruto beamed and launched himself at the old man in a flying tackling hug.

The Hokage gave a chuckle and returned the hug, "I have to go now, but I'll see you later, okay?"

"Alright!" Naruto agreed with a large grin.

The Hokage left and the tense feeling seemed to become heavier. Naruto glanced at the three spirits who continued to glare at each other, "Tobirama, how are you?" Hashirama asked a bit of nervous laughter heard clearly in his tone.

"Brother. I'm surprised to see you here, especially… _with him_. I thought you had moved on to the pure world," Tobirama stated, his red eyes seeming to burn in anger.

It was the most emotion he had seen from the man… and it was scary. Naruto shuddered as he watched. He could see that Tobirama seemed to flicker slightly. Tobirama glanced down at his own hands in surprise.

The Nidaime took a deep breath and the flickering stopped. Once it looked like things were more relaxed, Naruto released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. If even Tobirama could go unstable… Naruto shuddered. That would be horrible.

Hashirama gave an awkward laugh. "Seems that I somehow ended up bound to Madara after my death, and he ended up bound to me…"

"And in all this time you haven't visited me?" Tobirama questioned. His voice was laced with anger, the man was obviously trying to control his emotions, but he seemed to be getting angrier. There was a glint in his eyes that was showing what he wanted to feel.

Naruto could sense the pressure from the three, it seemed to be crushing and heavy. "I bet it was _his_ fault that you stayed away, _he_ probably prevented you from coming to see me," Tobirama spat. His form flickering again, distorting slightly. It was quick, barely noticeable to even him.

Naruto shivered and stepped back, away from Tobirama's flickering form. He could feel an uneasy knot tying up in his stomach.

"I did no such thing _Senju!_" Madara responded glaring at Tobirama.

Tobirama sneered, his lip curling down. Something so extreme from the man was terrifying. Tobirama had always seemed so calm. However, this was the total opposite, making it far from normal. "Just as you never tried to destroy Konoha," Tobirama sarcastically retorted.

Another distortion and Naruto caught a glimpse of the snarling monster. Hashirama and Madara noticed it as well. "W-what was that?" Hashirama asked wide eyed.

Naruto realized though that Tobirama wouldn't be able to answer. He was trying to control his emotions. So instead Naruto thought he would have to do what he could to give the answers needed. "He's unstable…" Naruto informed them, quietly.

They looked at him and noticed his fearful expression. Tobirama's form stabilized a bit and stopped flickering. "I am leaving," Tobirama stated as he turned to face him, "You have _them _now, you no longer need me around, so I will be returning to my duties. Goodbye."

The shimmer turned and floated out of the room quickly. Naruto stared in shock, not believing what he had just heard. The knot tightened, making him feel worse than before. Did that mean Tobirama wouldn't be coming to visit anymore? To give him advice? To protect him?

Naruto felt his eyes water, even as he thought about _why_ Tobirama would do what he did. The sad thing was that he was pretty sure he knew why the man had done it. Being around Hashirama and Madara made him unstable. Thus, he was dangerous to be around. It seemed the reaction was triggered more by Madara than Hashirama though.

Looking at the pair he saw Hashirama looking like he wanted to go after the man. "Don't, you will only make it worse," Naruto warned them, his voice wavering.

Hashirama gazed at him confused. "He was becoming unstable. I guess you haven't met any before, or found yourself becoming unstable…" Naruto didn't want to talk about this, but even from the little time he had been around them he knew he needed to explain so they would understand why going after Tobirama was a bad idea.

"You keep mentioning that, unstable. What is it?"

"When a spirit is overcome by an emotion, usually anger, they start to lose themselves, causing their forms to distort and change. They will become a monster and attack the person or thing that 'triggers' the reaction. If they kill the person they unstable form grows stronger and it can completely lose itself, attacking every spirit and person in sight," Naruto shuddered the memories of that night returning to him as he spoke of the unstable spirits.

"You sound like you had a personal experience with them," Hashirama stated frowning a bit.

He had, "Two years ago to this day in fact…" Naruto started and began to tell of what happened that night, he may not want to relive it, but he knew that after what happened he would once again be experiencing the nightmare memory of what happened.

§_Flashback_§

It had been a wonderful day. The old man in the cool looking hat had visited him and spoke with him like he was a normal child. He hadn't glared at him like most of those other villagers did. Though the old man did bring along that scary looking ghost. The ghost with the white hair and red eyes and the lines on his face.

The ghost never spoke, but he also never flickered in and out of existence as the other ghosts normally did. Still, they were gone now and he was all alone, and the mean lady of the place told him to scram so he didn't taint the other kids with his 'weirdness.' She wouldn't let him back in until tomorrow morning.

So now he was all alone on the streets with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Deciding to explore, he spun and started off in a random direction. He walked at a slow pace, looking around and just exploring the nearby area of Konoha. He gave a slight smile as a breeze ruffled his hair, the sun slowly setting behind him and making his shadow stretch out in front of him.

Ten minutes quickly passed by and he currently found himself in an abandoned looking district. The sun was low to the ground, giving the sky a deep bloody orange coloring and making the shadows on the ground darken. The towering buildings were in disarray, pieces of them laying about or completely gone. A breeze passed through the seemingly empty streets, creating an eerie whistling sound that sung of tragedy.

Small sapphire blue eyes shot to left as a strange flickering in the distance caught his attention. The soft heart clenching sounds of crying reached his ears. Hesitantly, he made his way over to the sound of sobbing. As he got closer to the sound, he got his first sight of the crying, flickering and fading spirit that seemed to barely cling to the world. He didn't know why the spirit was crying, but he wanted to try and comfort him. The spirit sound so sad, and alone.

The man continued to stumble his way down the deserted district, his head looking down at the ground with an aura of depression. His short, curly, mousy brown hair laid flat against his head. He wore a uniform similar to others he had seen jumping around the village before. A long sleeved dark blue shirt with a red swirl on his shoulder and a forest green vest overtop. Matching pants with white training bandages around his thigh and ankles, and black open toed sandals. He also noticed a black pouch around his upper thigh with a dark metal hoop sticking out.

"Hello?" he gently called out, not wanting to startle the saddened spirit.

The spirit froze in place, flickering out of existence for a few seconds when he reappeared he raised his head up ever so slightly before gradually turning towards him. His bluish green eyes locked onto his own, and he noticed faint tear tracks running down his cheeks. A faint, but ugly scar went across his lips giving him a permanent scowl.

His face went blank as he stared at the small blond child in front of him before a realization dawned on him. The spirit flickered again and reappeared. Anger welled up inside of the spirits eyes, turning blueish green eyes icy in anger, as his body began rapidly distorting. "You…" the spirit snarled, "You're the one who killed them! You killed my family you monster!" the man screamed, his body shifting into something straight out of a nightmare.

Naruto took a step back as he watched in a horrified curiosity as the man changed right in front of his eyes. The man's head sharply bent to the right. His face lost whatever fat it had and sunk in until it tightly clung to the bones which looked like they would break through the skin at the slightest disturbance. The spirits sclera turned a deep black and his irises turned from a normal bluish green to an ominous seemingly glowing yellow.

The spirit flickered out of existence and when he reappeared, the hair on his head was falling off and fading into nothingness just before reaching the ground. His body stretched and pulled itself apart as screams of anger and pain echoed around the abandoned district. The clothes he wore tore until they were barely hung on his distorted body. The bones in his fingers and toes ripped through his flesh turning into sharp, dagger like claws. The groans stopped suddenly as he stood up, looming over Naruto. The man no longer resembled anything vaguely human. It was a monster, with it's yellow eyes hungering for his pain and suffering. The monster opened its mouth and let out a dangerous, feral hissing that revealed sharp, pointed teeth.

A scream escaped Naruto's throat as the monster lashed out at him, barely missing his head. He stumbled backward and tripped in his haste falling onto his rear and quickly began scooting further away. The monster walked to him in a strange gait, it's clawed toes dragging against the ground; yet, they made no sound as it took each step slowly toward him.

The monster didn't flicker out of existence though, and it seemed solid, almost real. It wasn't see through like normal spirits though. He didn't know if the creature was real or a spirit, but he wasn't going to stick around to find out.

Though the monster's eyes revealed nothing on the outside, they boiled with a deep seated hatred that twisted and burned within them. Naruto cried out in fear and scrambled to his feet to escape this horrid twisted creature. As he bolted away, he noticed the other spirits gathering around. Their cries of anger and hate filled the air, and dark shadows formed around him. He twisted his head around and his eyes widened when he noticed how close the monster was behind him. However, the sight of more of these creatures behind him, fighting each other scared him even more. Each and every one of the monsters looked different, all of them inhuman.

He turned back in front of him and continued running away from the original one. Using his small frame, he turned down one of the streets as his heart pounded in his chest painfully. Shadows appeared to reach out for him, others jumping toward him from the roofs; but he tried to focus on only escaping.

The cries, screams, and horrid laughter echoed off each of the buildings, reverberating around him. It was a choir of tortured souls, a symphony only he was invited to hear. He turned into an alleyway and noticed the monster no longer was following him. He leaned against the shadowed wall, breathing heavily and gulping down the much needed oxygen.

After a few steadying breaths of air and his heart starting to calm, he felt a painful grip on his shoulder. A chill washed over the burning sensation and he quickly tore himself away from it. His shirt tore from the grip and his warm scarlet blood leaked down his shoulder. He turned toward the attacker in shock only to see the hand reaching through a solid wall.

The hand flickered from the monster's hand to a normal one as the man from before slowly walked through the wall, seeming to struggle as it pulled itself through the wall. His body flickered back and forth a few times before settling back on the nightmare inducing one. A mocking grin formed on his face as Naruto turned away and fled while desperately holding onto his bleeding shoulder. The skin on the outside felt so cold, but it burned with pain.

He risked a glance at his wound and noticed the skin where the monster's hand had grabbed him is a black, nauseous looking color with little trails of blood running down his arm. He touched the wound with his healthy hand and he felt a coldness emanating from it. He shifted his head to look back again and didn't see anything chasing him anymore.

His eyes turned toward his surroundings, looking for a good place to hide when he saw a building with an open door. He rushed inside to get away from the dangers the outdoors held. He didn't know why those things were after him, and he didn't want to ask.

He collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. That was the most he had ever ran in one go before. His legs felt like they were burning, and his shoulder where the monster had grabbed him throbbed painfully still burning, but still freezing cold.

Naruto froze when he heard a clicking sound from behind him. Scared he turned around the monster was grinning at him through the window of the front door, it's yellow eyes glowing menacingly. Slowly it came through the door. Inch by inch the monster came through the now closed door into the building and Naruto was frozen in horror.

"_Such a de•light•ful chase,_" the monster rasped out in a gleeful tone, "_Run for me lit•tle one… let me hunt you…_"

Naruto fled turning and running further into the building. Night had fallen and the building was now pitch black. Naruto could barely see the walls or what was two feet in front of him, he kept running though. Finding stairs he started up them. He had nowhere to go, how was he supposed to escape this thing?

Mocking laughter rang through the air sending shivers crawling down his spine. The hair on his arms was standing straight up. Naruto stopped trying to catch his breath but soon continued to walk on, he opened doors, looking for anything that could help him escape the building.

The lights flickered on for a brief second. Blindly bright. Making his heart skip a beat. Then they went back off and he couldn't see anything his slight night vision he had; gone.

A chilling laughter rang out, "_I en•joy your fear… I will fe•ast upon you and get ev•en stron•ger," _The monster called out, strange pauses in some of its words. Causing its voice to come out stuttered and broken sounding. The monster sounded alien, strange, the words had a faint echoing quality to them.

Naruto stumbled over to a wall tripping upon something. "_I hear you~_" The monster taunted, and its voice seemed louder, closer than before.

He felt his way out of the room and continued further down the hall, slowly regaining his night vision. The lights flickered on again, sending him stumbling. This time the lights remained on.

"_Th•ere you are~"_ The monster called out.

Naruto didn't bother to turn and look, he ran for all he was worth even as the monster laughed crazily, "_You can run~ but you can't hi•de~_"

He suspected that the monster was letting him run away and chasing after him like this. It was playing with him. Toying with him. Naruto though had to play this game with it if he wanted a chance to find a way to escape. This building was empty though, nothing seemed to be in any of it's rooms. At least now he could quickly glance and see what was in it before continuing on.

The lights flickered and then plunged him into darkness again and everything was pitch black. He stood still, not wanting to trip or stumble and alert the monster to where he was.

Everything was quiet.

He shivered, as it had never seemed this cold to him before.

Breathing out, he noticed his breath hanging in the air for a brief moment.

An icy cold hand grabbed his ankle and he screamed at the piercing cold even as he yanked his foot away. He stumbled away his ankle pulsated in agony as each step he took. It felt like an icy lead had formed where the monster had touched his skin. He could feel a liquid trickling down from his ankle. He knew that if he looked he would see three blackened claw marks surrounding three gashes on his ankle.

He found another staircase and started to make his way down, back to the ground floor, maybe he could break the glass or something. Laughter, stuttering and distorted followed him mockingly.

Darkness surrounded him and he had once again regained his night vision as he made his way down the stairs when the monster made the lights turn on blinding him again. He screamed as he tripped and fell down the stairs as the lights quickly turned back off. Wildly reaching forward to try and stop his fall, his arm hit the ground first and it broke with a sickeningly loud snap.

He cried out in pain and he couldn't move to stand. His right arm was broken, and his left arm still throbbed from where the monster had grabbed him. He could barely move his ankle.

He was going to die.

"_You are mi•ne now~" _The monster called out laughing as it slowly descended the stairs to him.

Bursting through the wall came another spirit. He glared at the monster and stood protectively over Naruto. It took the boy a minute, but he recognized the spirit as the one that always seemed to be following the man in the cool hat. He stared at the back of the spirits, seeing him wearing a black bodysuit that was covered with a blue armour with some white fur around his neck. Strapped to his waist was a sword.

The ghost formed hand signs and Naruto watched as a ghostly water dragon seemed to form and attack the monster, forcing it to back away. "Come, we have to get you out of here," the ghost stated turning to him, piercing red eyes staring at him.

Shakily, Naruto stood and followed the ghost as it gestured for him too. "_NO!_" The monster screeched out it's voice wavering and distorting, "_I wo•n't let you take my prey a•way from me!"_

"Quickly. This way," the ghost told him and it led him to a section of the wall that seemed mostly destroyed. "Kick it, or punch it, enough force and this section should crumble."

Naruto obeyed without question, to scared to do anything else. He punched the wall with his unbroke arm, over and over again, until his knuckles bleed and the wall slowly crumbled away until at last it fell.

It was just in time as the monster appeared again. The ghost formed some hand signs again and this time a ghostly water wolf attacked the monster. "Follow," the spirits commanded leading him out of the building.

So he followed the red eyed ghost through the streets, turning and twisting down alleyways. "In there, you'll be safe," the man commanded pointing to a temple. "Do not come out until sunrise, no matter what."

Naruto entered the building, which seemed surprisingly intact. Though windows lay broken and shattered. How this place was supposed to keep him safe he didn't know. Once inside he turned and looked to see that the ghost who had helped him stayed outside. Slowly as he watched more and more monsters gathered around outside the building, but none entered. It seemed none of them could enter. A barrier seemed to be blocking them, preventing them from entering the temple.

The first monster appeared and it snarled before turning to the ghost who was starting to jump away. "_You sto•le my prey!_" The monster snarled and leapt after the ghost. Some of the monsters followed him, others stayed outside the church, watching him and waiting. They called out to him jeering and taunting, trying to get him to exit the building. But he stayed inside, rooted by fear.

Naruto kept watching fearfully until he passed out in a fitful sleep. He woke up to inhuman screaming and slowly and painfully stood up, staring outside the window again. The sun was starting to rise and the monsters were turning back into spirits and then fading away. Even when the sun had fully risen he didn't exit. He was scared that they would reappear as soon as he left.

Eventually he saw the ghost that had rescued him appear at the edge of the church. "Naruto, it's okay to exit now, let's get you to the hospital," the ghost commanded gently.

Hesitantly, he did. The ghost gazed at him and started walking, so Naruto stumbled after him. His ankle and shoulder still burned in pain, even as it remained cold to the touch. His broken arm gave an agonizing throb with every step.

He silently followed after the ghost, his throat sore from his screams last night. He would have nightmares for the next few months and was unwilling to speak of what happened with anyone.

§_End Flashback_§

Hashirama and Madara were staring at him. Naruto shifted the shoulder of his shirt down, revealing a scar in the shape of a hand print, the edges of it were blackened and raised, making it seem like a tattoo.

"From what I understand, the Hokage of yours does not know you can see spirits, so how did you explain this?" Madara questioned, tilting his head.

Naruto grimaced, "I told him the truth, but the Hokage believes I was attacked by some foregin bloodline shinobi."

"So that's why you didn't want to enter the abandoned district… but you said they disappeared when the sun rose."

"People consider the end of the day at midnight, but that is not what the world considers the end of the day. October tenth began at sunrise and ended on the next sunrise, and those spirits are only able to appear on that day, and only in that location," Naruto explained, glancing out of his window to see the rain pouring down.

"Why do you fear to enter even when it is not the tenth?"

Naruto shuddered, "Because… whenever I near that district… I feel the monster watching me, like it's waiting for me to make a mistake."

Lightning flashed out the window as silence descended on the apartment.

* * *

**End Note: **Bet you didn't expect that, yeah? I had foreshadowed to it a bit through the chapters. No spirit is safe from being unstable, and they can have an affect on the living, Naruto more than most though. I don't know when I will update next.


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